(Updated Jan. 5, 2021; 6:54 p.m.) The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Monday announced that some banks are extending their waiver of fees for online transactions via PESONet and InstaPay this year.
The updated list covered banks that extended free online transfers until January 31 and March 31.
On Tuesday, January 5, more banks extended their waiver of fees for InstaPay and PESONet transactions. Some banks announced extension until June 30 and December 31 this year.
The central bank also released a similar list of banks, mobile wallet apps last October. However, the waiver was extended until December 31 last year only.
InstaPay and PESONet are electronic fund transfer services which “enables customers of participating banks, e-money issuers or mobile money operators to transfer funds, in Philippine peso currency, anytime of the day and almost instantly between accounts.”
The banks listed by BSP are members of the Philippine Payments Management Inc.
InstaPay allows up to P50,000 in cash transactions and credits them in near real-time, while PesoNet credits fund transfers on the same banking day.
In October last year, big banking firms such as BDO Unibank and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) started charging their clients who used the online fund transfer services P25 via Instapay and P50, respectively.
E-wallets GCash and PayMaya also began charging P15 for “send to bank” transactions after several extension last year.
READ: Your bank transfers via GCash will cost you a little bit—or a lot—by October
Majority of the banks halted the interbank service fee in March last year after the national government implemented the strict COVID-19 lockdown or enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
