Small and medium-scale enterprises stand to gain several benefits including increased business efficiency and lowers expenses if they digitalize their payment processing, according to a central bank official.
Anne Michelle Andres, Bank Officer V for payments policy and development at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is encouraging SMEs to go digital with their payment processes, noting: "For businesses, efficiency is improved through reduced operating cost."
In a recent webinar, Andres shared that a survey by payment card service provider Visa in 100 cities worldwide found that digital payments can generate net benefits for businesses by as much as nearly US$500 billion a year, savings that can be channeled to more productive uses and business expansion.
"For our MSEs, digital payments can improve their participation in e-commerce and improve supply chain management," Andres said.
"And with the increased use of financial services, MSMEs are able to build their digital footprint that can enhance their credit history and then ultimately they expand their access to working capital via digital means," she added in an online forum hosted by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines.
Rising
Andres said account ownership and digital payments adoption have been rising among Filipino consumers. Account ownership rose from 29 percent or 20.9 million Filipinos in 2019 to 56 percent or 42.9 million in 2021, while digital payments as a share of total payments grew in volume from 1 percent in 2013 to 42.1 percent in 2022.
SMEs can use the electronic funds transfer facilities PESONet and InstaPay to make financial transactions, reminded the official.
PESONet can be utilized for government payments and collections, supplier payments, and payroll, while InstaPay can be used for domestic remittance, e-commerce, bills payment, and other immediate low-value payments.
Additionally, SMEs can also use eGov Pay, an electronic payment facility under PESONet to pay taxes, permits, fees and other obligations to the government using the Link.Biz Portal of the LandBank.
And under InstaPay, there are two additional e-payment facilities: Bills Pay Ph and QR Ph.
New facility
Bills Pay Ph is a new facility that allows customers to pay their bills for utility, rent, subscription, credit cards, loan amortizations and other periodic or recurring financial obligations by either scanning or uploading the QR Ph Person-to-Biller code or by manually inputting the payment details for the non-QR mode of payment.
QR Ph, on the other hand, features QR Ph P2P for person-to-person funds transfer and remittance and QR Ph P2M (person-to-merchant) for the purchase of goods and services.
Andres said that to avail of all these interoperable digital payment facilities, consumers need not download a separate application from Google Store or Apple Store.
"You can just open your mobile app and access your internet banking provided by your bank," she said.