Digital payment transactions surge 142% in eight months

Digital payment use continued to accelerate in the Philippines in the first eight months of 2026, with transactions through the country’s two main retail payment channels exceeding P22 trillion as local banks began cutting or lowering digital transfer fees.

Latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed combined transactions through PESONet and InstaPay reached P22.12 trillion from January to August, up 44.72 percent from a year earlier, while the number of transfers more than doubled.

The two automated clearing houses handled a combined 5.77 billion transactions during the period, compared with 2.38 billion in the same eight months of 2025, an increase of 141.8 percent.

InstaPay accounted for P11.08 trillion of the total, up P4.15 trillion, or nearly three-fifths, from P6.93 trillion a year earlier. Its transaction volume likewise more than doubled to 5.68 billion from 2.31 billion.

PESONet transactions, meanwhile, reached P11.05 trillion, with 87.1 million transfers recorded during the eight-month period.

The strong growth came as banks and other financial institutions began cutting or eliminating digital transfer fees following changes to the BSP’s pricing rules. The central bank earlier this year issued BSP Circular No. 1238, which encourages BSP-supervised financial institutions to adopt fair and reasonable pricing for person-to-person electronic fund transfers.

BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said in July that the central bank expects more financial institutions to likewise reduce or remove online transaction fees in a bid to promote greater financial inclusion.

“As more people join the network, it becomes more useful because users can pay more merchants and transfer money to more users. This attracts even more users,” he said.

“At the same time, the larger number of transactions helps reduce the average cost of running the system, making it easier for providers to keep fees low.”

BDO Unibank, Land Bank of the Philippines and Union Bank of the Philippines were among the major banks that eliminated InstaPay and PESONet fees following the issuance of the BSP circular, while other institutions such as Maya introduced free-transfer limits or reduced their charges.

The acceleration in digital payments was also evident in August alone, when PESONet and InstaPay processed P2.96 trillion across 791.2 million transactions.

InstaPay accounted for P1.57 trillion from 780.6 million transfers, while PESONet handled P1.39 trillion through 10.7 million transactions.