A number of banks and mobile wallet applications extended the free online transfer to their clients until the end of this year amid the raging novel coronavirus pandemic.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas released an updated list of banking firms on September 30 that waived their fees for online transactions via PESONet and InstaPay until Dec.31, 2020.
These banking firms are also members of the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI).
Waiver of fees, EXTENDED!The following banks and e-money issuers are extending their waiver of fees for InstaPay and PESONet transactions.List updated as of 30 September 2020.
Posted by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Wednesday, September 30, 2020
PESONet and InstaPay are types of electronic fund transfer services between customers of participating banks, mobile money operators and e-money issuers in the Philippines.
Large banking institutions included in the list are the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank), the Philippine National Bank, the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and the Union Bank of the Philippines.
Some banks have conditions such as the HSBC Savings Bank and the Security Bank Corporation only waived the fees for retail clients.
In a statement, John Ong, the executive vice president and head of Transaction Banking Group, encouraged Security Bank’s clients to take advantage of the waived transfer fees through the bank’s mobile app.
“We encourage everyone to remain safe during this pandemic by staying at home and conducting their banking needs through Security Bank Online and through our Security Bank Mobile App and take full advantage of the waived fund transfer fees,” Ong said.
“Transactions using Security Bank Online have seen a steady growth month-on-month since March when the Enhanced Community Quarantine was imposed in various parts of the country. Majority of the transactions come from fund transfer and bills payment services,” he added.
BSP previously eyed to request lenders to postpone their plans on returning their charges for money transfers by October.
Aside from the firms in the list, PayMaya, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. (MUFG Bank) and GCash also agreed to defer their fees but only until October 31.
RELATED: Your bank transfers via GCash will cost you a little bit—or a lot—by October
BDO Unibank and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI),on the other hand, have proceeded with charging their clients using the online fund transfer services on October 1.
BPI reminded its clients of returning the charges to their online fund transfer services via social media.
Please be reminded that waiving of fees for funds transfer to other banks via InstaPay and to unenrolled BPI accounts is…
Posted by BPI on Sunday, September 27, 2020
BDO, meanwhile, experienced a surge of users accessing its digital channels on September 30, which is the last day of the free fund transfers and also happened to be payday.
RELATED: BDO advises clients to do onsite banking as online services become inaccessible during payday
After its digital system became inaccessible, it advised its clients to visit their branches and use their automated machines instead.
