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Bank transfers made through GCash, a mobile wallet from leading telecom company Globe, were charged no fees for months during and after strict closures in most areas of the Philippines.
Finding that face-to-face transactions posed a health risk, Filipinos who used to carry bills and coins took to the internet to pay bills, buy, withdraw and send money.
The change in the behavior of its customers led banking operations to make a rapid turn to online.
READ: Banks and businesses try to keep up as more Filipinos run out of cash
Finance giants, in particular GCash partner banks, also heeded Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas request to make these fast cash exchanges free even when they go through paid automatic clearing systems like InstaPay.
But these tech-assisted transactions will only be possible with a charge before October 1, based on the notifications GCash sent to its app users. It is not yet known how much transfers from GCash to bank accounts and vice versa will cost.
The resumption of transfer fees is earlier than the central bank expected, having said that InstaPay and PesoNet services that mediate transactions would cost Filipinos nothing until the end of the year.
As it seems, not all banks, GCash partners, are accommodating the expanded benefit.
“It’s because banks are now charging fees, so I guess all digital platforms should follow unless these companies are willing to bear the costs that banks charge,” noted one Reddit user.
Users expect the rate to be set per transfer and only take one minute. “Healthy fixed fee (mga 5-10 pesos) per transfer instead of a certain amount of% ng transferred… but more okay na wala na lang fee 😭,” wrote one.
Outside of GCash, there are some banks that have chosen to waive InstaPay and PesoNet fees for transfers until December 31, 2020. These are:
- UnionBank
- EastWest Bank
- Land bank
- Development Bank of the Philippines
- Asia United Bank
- Security bench
- Sterling Bank of Asia
- Standard Chartered Bank
- UCPB
- Maybank Philippines
InstaPay allows up to P50,000 in cash transactions and credits them in near real time, while PesoNet credits fund transfers on the same banking day.
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