MANILA, Philippines – Some Philippine banks have temporarily waived their PESONet and InstaPay fees, responding to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) call to make electronic fund transfers more accessible for customers.

Here’s a list compiled by the BSP of banks and e-money issuers that have waived their PESONet and InstaPay fees as of October 31.

Most of the banks listed have decided to waive fees, with varying conditions, until the end of the year, with the exception of Union Bank of the Philippines that limited its free InstaPay fund transfers only until November 11, 2023.

Both PESONet and InstaPay have banks that are offering to waive fees. Transfers via PESONet have no maximum limit and are posted by the end of the day. Meanwhile, InstaPay allows real-time fund transfers of up to P50,000 per transaction.

The waiving of these transfer fees follows the BSP’s push for more banks to remove fees on small-value transfers, generally up to P1,000. 

Without banks waiving them, fees can generally range from P8 to P50. They also tend to stay the same regardless of transfer value, which can disproportionately impact small transactions. At the same time, small transactions make up a large portion of digital transfers.

The government, however, has stopped short of limiting what banks can charge for transactions. Without any formal regulations issued, the central bank is relying on “moral suasion” – or simply persuading or appealing to banks. (READ: Bangko Sentral hopes to ‘shame’ banks into removing fees on small transfers) – Rappler.com

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