ABOUT US
Established in 2017 by payment industry participants and with support from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) works with financial institutions in achieving a more accessible and a more competitive payments system in the Philippines.
In 2018, we were recognized as the official Payment System Management Body (PSMB) of the Philippines under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) Framework of the BSP. The NRPS is positioned to support and assist the transition of the financial industry from cash-heavy to cash-lite, benefiting different stakeholders by providing faster and easier financial services in the Philippine market. This strengthens our purpose as a self-governing structure, run by key players in the industry, in creating scalable and reliable payment innovations in the retail payment system.
The PPMI Board is composed of representatives from the universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, and non-bank e-money issuers (NB-EMIs), as well as independent executives that represent broader public interests.
Our members include banks and non-banks which are direct clearing participants, duly licensed by the BSP, and are active in at least one automated clearing house (ACH). PPMI membership paves way for financial industry players to work together for the Philippines to have an interconnected electronic retail payment system—making payments easy and secure for Filipinos.
Road to Digital Payments
In 2019, a research conducted by Hootsuite states that 71 percent of Filipinos with access to the internet are active internet users. While this population connects to the internet to access a social media account online, 54 percent of them avail mobile banking services where 40 percent are being used for mobile payments.
With this advent of the internet and technology, various industries are gearing up toward inclusivity and accessibility. However, in terms of financial economic system, we are yet to fully embrace this direction. In the Philippines, only one percent of retail payments are done electronically. This was revealed by a study conducted in 2014 by Better than Cash Alliance. This means 99 percent of payments and transactions are still paper-based i.e. the use of cash and checks.
Based on the Financial Inclusion Survey conducted by BSP in 2017, 38 percent of adults own a smart phone and roughly one third of them are aware of different existing mobile money services like PayMaya and GCash. However, only 1.3 percent have an electronic money account and according to the World Bank Global Findex of 2017, only 14 percent of these Filipino adults have made digital payments in the past year. Despite the significant internet usage in the country and awareness of online payment methods, 46 percent of those with online accounts and internet access still remain ambivalent about e-payments due to security and safety issues.
The Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) is the Philippines’ duly recognized self-governing body tasked to support the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in overseeing proper operations and monitoring the implementation progress of the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) by enforcing its governance framework.
The PPMI oversees the environment by which financial institutions cooperate to enable payments across accounts in different financial institutions in alignment with the policies and strategies of the NRPS Framework.
Click link to BSP Circular No. 980 to see list of functions of PPMI.
Click link to BSP Circular No. 1033 to see rules governing the Confirmation of Eligiiblity as prerequisite for participation as members in the automated clearing houses for PESONet and InstaPay.
The Birth of NRPS
The National Retail Payment System (NRPS) is a flagship program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). It is a policy and regulatory framework that aims to establish a safe, efficient, reliable and inter-operable retail payment in the Philippines.
NRPS is built on core principles that include (1) separation of payment system governance from clearing operations; (2) fair and level-playing field of payment system participants; (3) reasonable, market-based pricing of payment services; and (4) increased inter-operability, among others.
Automated Clearing Houses (ACHs)
PESONet is an electronic funds transfer service that enables customers of participating banks, e-money issuers or mobile money operators to transfer funds in Philippine Peso currency to another customer of other participating banks, e-money issuers or mobile money operators in the Philippines. For example: a business or government agency who is a customer of Bank A, can pay another business, government agency or person who is a customer of Bank B, or an employee who is a customer of E-money Issuer C.
InstaPay is an electronic funds transfer service that 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.
Why avail of InstaPay?
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Transfer funds of up to Php50,000 per transaction electronically
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Make funds available to the recipient immediately
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Perform transactions, anytime as it is accessible 24/7
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Transact anywhere through mobile apps and internet banking
