SIX MORE government entities and a lender will soon join the EGov Pay facility of the government in a move to boost digital payments in the country, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno.

Moreover, Mr. Diokno said initiatives have been in place to look into allowing multiple settlements in one day for electronic fund transfer (EFT) service PESONet.

“Since its launch in late 2019, nine government agencies and three banks are now participants to the EGov Pay Facility,” Mr. Diokno said in a briefing on Friday held at the central bank.

This year, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Environmental Management Bureau, City Government of Davao, Land Transportation Office, Philippine Regulatory Commission and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office are expected to get onboard the EGov Pay Facility, which allows online payments to government agencies.

Meanwhile, also within the year, Philippine Savings Bank will join participating banks that are already onboard the EGov Pay Facility like Land Bank of the Philippines, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Robinsons Bank Corp. and UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc.

In its pilot launch last year, agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Trade and Industry, Philippine National Police, as well as local government units of Manila, Quezon City, Valenzuela, General Santos, San Pedro, Laguna, and Baler have gotten onboard the facility.

Mr. Diokno also said they are looking at allowing PESONet settlements multiple times in a day in order to cut waiting time for users of the retail payment facility.

Currently, PESONet, which is an EFT under the central bank’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS), allows a batch of fund of transfers to be credited by the receiver by the end of the banking date.

Its retail counterpart, InstaPay, allows real-time fund transfers for amounts less than P50,000.

In a previous interview, PESONet Steering Committee Head John Cary L. Ong has said having two to three times of settlements in a day could be possible for PESONet.

The latest report by United Nations-based Better than Cash Alliance report showed the volume of e-payments climbed to comprise 10% of total transactions in 2018 from a mere 1% in 2013.

Mr. Diokno has said he wants 50% of the total transaction volume in the country done digitally by the end of his term in mid-2023. — L.W.T. Noble

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