BSP starts survey on the use of digital payments

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is conducting its first Consumer Payment Survey (CPS) this quarter to improve the rules on digital payments to increase their use by up to 50 percent of all retail payments in three years.

In a statement, the BSP said the survey results will serve as a guide to implement measures that will expand the use of digital payments until it reaches its goal and that 70 percent of Filipinos will have financial accounts by 2023 or even as soon as end of December 2022.

Through a nationwide survey, the CPS will turn to Kantar Philippines Inc. to measure actual use of digital payments across the country – for example, how these individual consumers ages 15 and older use these transactions. Kantar is an independent market research company.

The BSP ensures that the protection of personal data will be strictly applied to the survey participants.

“The BSP will take all necessary precautions to continually safeguard the privacy of survey data. All information collected will be treated with the strictest confidentiality and will be used exclusively for policy-making purposes, ”said BSP.

The BSP said that the CPS “will be carried out with the utmost adherence to established health protocols (and) visits by Kantar investigators to selected homes across the country will also be coordinated with local government authorities to ensure security”.

“We strongly encourage selected individuals to participate in CPS. The results of the CPS will guide the BSP in its various efforts to increase the use of digital payments to at least 50 percent of retail payments and allow at least 70 percent of Filipinos to own financial accounts by 2023, ”he said the BSP.

Since the pandemic, technology has gradually changed and has now accelerated the reshaping of payment transactions and the delivery of goods and services in a COVID-19 and post-health crisis environment.

The BSP has begun to improve and strengthen cybersecurity measures even before the pandemic began and, while locked in, it has modified regulations, improved cyber surveillance, and enhanced its digital campaigns to promote digital financial services.

Four months after the lockdown period, the central bank launched its literacy campaign to promote public confidence and in the use of digital financial services or DFS. BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said that digital literacy “is a necessary skill for Filipinos to enjoy convenient and secure financial transactions.”

To encourage the use of DFS, the BSP campaign educates consumers to become more familiar with DFS to reduce usage errors, scams and fraud, as well as to “mitigate the risk of loss, promote consumer protection and ensure positive experiences. for the customer “. And, during the lockdown, online account opening, money transfers, electronic payment solutions, and other technology-backed financial transactions became common.

The BSP has also been improving the channels of new technologies for transferring funds such as mobile phones, internet, cash cards.