FOURTEEN banks have extended their waiver of online fund transfer fees until Dec. 31, 2020 while 13 other financial institutions have waived the fees until further notice, the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) announced Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Online fund transfers may be done through InstaPay or PesoNet. The fees per transaction were waived originally until Sept. 30, but the waiver was extended beginning Oct. 1, PPMI said.
The banks that have waived InstaPay and PesoNet fees until the end of the year are Union Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Security Bank Corp., Sterling Bank of Asia Inc., Standard Chartered Bank, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (retail), EastWest Banking Corp., United Coconut Planters Bank, Maybank Philippines Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank), PS Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
Those that have waived the fees until further notice are BPI Direct BanKo, Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank, CIMB Bank, Citibank, CTBC, DC Pay (retail), ING Bank N.V., JP Morgan Chase Bank, MUFG Bank, Philippine Business Bank, PNB, Philippine Trust Co. and Bank of Florida.
InstaPay enables the real-time transfer of up to P50,000 per day while PesoNet allows the transfer of up to P500,000 per transaction per day.
Unlike InstaPay, which enables real-time transfer, PesoNet credits the funds to the recipient within the same banking day if the money was sent before 12 noon. Otherwise, the funds are credited on the next banking day.
In a speech delivered during a Citibank event recently, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Benjamin Diokno noted a surge in the use of InstaPay and PesoNet since the government imposed lockdowns in mid-March.
“This is on the back of restricted mobility, shortened operating hours of business establishments, and the necessity of avoiding face-to-face transactions during the lockdown,” Diokno said.
He said the volume and value of PesoNet payments increased sharply by 122 percent and 119 percent from July 2019 to July 2020.
Aside from helping businesses mobilize funds during the pandemic, PesoNet was also used for fund transfers under the Social Security System’s small business wage subsidy program.
The volume and value of InstaPay transactions also surged by 739 percent and 442 percent in the same period.
In the first half of 2020, InstaPay transactions jumped by 122 percent in the second quarter compared to those in the first quarter. (JOB)