Palace urges banks, e-wallets to waive, cut transfer fees

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday urged other banks and financial institutions to follow the example of state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) in significantly reducing — or completely eliminating transfer fees — as part of the administration’s target to remove barriers to financial access and make banking more inclusive for all Filipinos.

According to Palace press officer Claire Castro, the call aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s’ goal of making financial transactions more affordable and accessible for Filipinos.

“We hope all banks will follow what Landbank has started to help our fellow Filipinos,” she said.

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Castro credited Finance Secretary Frederick Go, who chairs the Landbank board of directors, for initiating the move to reduce transfer fees and remove convenience charges for certain government transactions.Go earlier sought to significantly slash interbank transaction fees from the current P10 to P50 range, to around P2 to P5 per transaction.

“Digital payment should be fast, secure, convenient, and affordable. We’ve been talking to them (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) about this. We want to level the playing field,” the chief of the Department of Finance had said.

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While the finance chief has no direct authority to regulate fees imposed by banks and digital payment providers — a function that falls under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) — Go directed the Landbank to start lowering its charges.

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In May, the state-run lender trimmed its InstaPay transfer fees for person-to-person transfers from P15 to P8 and introduced one free InstaPay transfer per day for transfers amounting to P1,000 or less.

It later implemented zero fees for on person-to-government transactions made through QRPh-enabled channels, including the Link.The BizPortal platform, physical QR standees at participating agencies, and government websites that utilize the bank’s Link.BizPortal.

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Covered transactions include payments to select national government agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units, water districts, and state universities and colleges.

Malacañang’s call came after BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said earlier that more banks are expected to waive or lower transfer fees for transactions with other financial institutions following the BSP’s directive.

The central bank issued BSP Circular No. 1238, which took effect on July 4, encouraging financial institutions to adopt “reasonable and fair market-based” pricing for person-to-person electronic fund transfers.

The latest to lower their fees were e-wallets GCash and Maya, which have both reduced their InstaPay transfer fees from P15 to P10.

Private lenders Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) recently waived their transfer fees through their digital channels.

Starting July 1, customers using the BPI mobile app, online banking platform, VYBE, BanKo and BizKo no longer need to pay fees for transfers to other banks and e-wallets via InstaPay and PesoNet.

BPI previously charged P10 per InstaPay transaction and P50 for PesoNet transfers made through its mobile app.

Meanwhile, clients using the RCBC Pulz app can transfer funds to other local banks via InstaPay for free starting on July 4.

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The waiver covers the first 30 InstaPay transactions each month, with a minimum transfer amount of P100 per transaction. /mr