THE value of online transactions hit record-highs in 2020, as movement and travel restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 forced financial consumers to rely heavily on online financial channels.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno told reporters on Thursday that the combined value of PESONet and InstaPay transactions reached P1.42 trillion in 2020.
Broken down, the value of PESONet transactions rose by 188 percent in 2020 to reach P951.6 billion. Meanwhile, payments made through InstaPay reached a value of P463.4 billion in 2020, which was a 340-percent increase from the previous year.
Diokno said this development gives the BSP good footing to push through with its goals of transitioning from a cash-heavy to cash-lite and, eventually, to a coinless and cashless society.
“The BSP expects the transition to gather pace amid the rise in electronic payments during the Covid-19 pandemic. In view of this, the BSP will continue to engage the public to ensure that Filipinos will adjust well to this transformation,” Diokno said.
Diokno also reported that coin demand in 2020 fell by 57 percent in volume and 60 percent in value from its level in 2019.
“While softer economic activity may have partly led to the drop, broadening access to safe and convenient e-payment options may have also contributed to the decline in coin demand,” the governor said.
Diokno also said that the BSP and the industry, led by the Philippine Payments Management Inc., are continuously collaborating to develop more avenues on safe and efficient digital payments.
The governor earlier announced his personal goal of ensuring half of financial transactions in the country transition to digital by the end of his term in 2023. But because of the pandemic, Diokno said this may be achieved sooner than the projection by the end of 2022.