InstaPay, PESONet transactions top P10 trillion at end-April

DIGITAL PAYMENTS continued to expand in the Philippines as transactions made via InstaPay and PESONet reached a total value of over P10 trillion as of April, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

In the first four months of the year, the combined value of InstaPay and PESONet transfers amounted to P10.388 trillion, up 45.38% from the P7.145 trillion seen in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, more users turned cashless as the volume of transactions made through the two payment gateways more than tripled (225.1%) year on year to 2.721 billion as of April from 837.118 million previously.

Broken down, the value of InstaPay transactions jumped by 62.71% to P5.093 trillion from P3.13 trillion a year ago.

This came as the clearing house recorded a surge in the volume of transactions during the period, which soared by 234.95% to 2.68 billion from 799.971 million in the prior year.

On the other hand, transfers done via PESONet stood at a total value of P5.295 trillion at end-April, 31.88% higher than the P4.015 trillion posted in the same period last year.

The volume of PESONet transactions also went up by an annual 12.89% to 41.938 million in the four-month period from 37.148 million previously.

InstaPay and PESONet are automated clearing houses under the central bank’s National Retail Payment System framework.

InstaPay is a real-time, low-value electronic fund transfer facility for transactions up to P50,000 and is mostly used for remittances and e-commerce.

Meanwhile, PESONet is mainly used for high-value transactions and may be considered as an electronic alternative to paper-based checks.

As of April, there are 94 InstaPay participants, most of which are nonbank electronic money issuers. PESONet has a total of 124 participants, with the bulk being universal and commercial banks.

The BSP wants digital payments to make up 60%-70% of the total volume of retail payments by 2028 in line with the Philippine Development Plan.

In 2024, online payments made up 57.4% of the volume and 59% of the value of the country’s total monthly retail transactions, according to the BSP’s 2024 Status of Digital Payments in the Philippines report. — Katherine K. Chan