THE VALUE of transactions done through InstaPay and PESONet climbed by 34.6% in the first seven months, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Central bank data showed that transactions coursed through the automated clearing houses jumped to P9.45 trillion as of end-July from P7.02 trillion in the same period a year ago.
The combined volume of transactions done via InstaPay and PESONet surged by 64.6% to 786.2 million from 477.5 million year on year.
Broken down, the value of PESONet transactions rose by 28.4% to P5.56 trillion as of July from P4.33 trillion a year ago.
The volume of transactions that went through the payment gateway likewise went up by 8.4% to 56.84 million as of end-July from 52.43 million a year ago.
Meanwhile, the value of transactions done through InstaPay stood at P3.9 trillion at end-July, higher by 45% from P2.69 trillion in the same period in 2023.
The volume of transactions coursed through the clearing house soared by 71.6% to 729.3 million from 425.08 million a year ago.
PESONet and InstaPay are automated clearing houses launched in December 2015 under the central bank’s National Retail Payment System framework.
PESONet caters to high-value transactions and may be considered as an electronic alternative to paper-based checks, while 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.
The share of online payments in the total volume of monthly retail transactions rose to 52.8% in 2023 from 42.1% a year earlier, latest data from the BSP showed.
This surpassed the central bank’s target of digitalizing 50% of the volume of retail payments by end-2023.
The volume of digital payments stood at 2.62 billion in 2023, higher than the 2.35 billion non-digital transactions. Meanwhile, the value of online payments amounted to $110.5 billion in 2023, also higher than the $89.3-billion non-digital transactions.
The BSP said that the top contributor to the rise in digital payments was merchant payments, which accounted for the bulk or 64.9% of monthly digital payments volume.
The central bank is targeting to achieve a 60-70% share of digital payments over total retail payments volume by 2028, in line with the Philippine Development Plan. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson