The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will deploy its Request to Pay (RTP) and Direct Debit facilities this year and in 2025 to further drive digital payments adoption in the country.

In a press briefing, BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said the central bank is targeting to launch the first use-case of RTP, the RTP Cash-in Service, in the second half of this year.

The RTP Cash-In Service will allow e-money users to top up their favorite e-money accounts using any bank or other e-wallet platforms seamlessly.

Meanwhile, the second use-case of RTP that a consumer can use for e-commerce would be launched next year, he said.

'(Online payments) can be frustrating because if you are (shopping on) an e-commerce site and it only supports some payment service providers that unfortunately you don't have an account in, then you couldn't make that payment,' Tangonan said.

'So we would like to make that fully interoperable through Request to Pay for e-commerce,' he said.

Based on its 2023 Report on the Status of Digital Payments in the Philippines, the share of digital payments to total retail transactions jumped to 52.8 percent last year from 42.1 percent in 2022.

The BSP attributed the increase to the widespread adoption of online merchant transactions, person-to-person remittances and supplier payments made by businesses.

'Supplier payments and person to business payments comprise a substantial part in the total retail payments transaction volume,' Tangonan said. 'Making that more convenient and more efficient will drive more businesses to adopting digital payments.'

According to the central bank, the RTP would empower payees to initiate collections by simply sending a 'request to pay' to the payer, rather than sending through an invoice

The RTP will allow businesses and consumers to have enhanced control over their outgoing payments and likewise improved visibility over their cash flow.

The facility will also provide greater efficiency in carrying out person-to-business and business-to-business transactions, such as payments for goods, services, bills and utilities.

In December last year, the BSP soft-launched the InstaPay RTP cash-in service, which enabled users to fund their own accounts or e-wallets by sending a request for funds to the originating financial institution while using the digital platform of the receiving financial institution.

'This initiative widened the network of cash-in services beyond the existing bilateral agreements of financial institutions, consequently increasing digital payments usage and bringing down the barriers to adoption,' the BSP said.

Meanwhile, Tangonan said the BSP is working with the industry to pilot launch the Direct Debit facility this year. Technical working group discussions with prospective participants, as well as alignment of technical specifications and standards, are ongoing.

Direct Debit is an upcoming digital payment stream that allows customers to better manage their recurring payments such as monthly rentals, loan amortizations and insurance premiums by simply authorizing billers to pull funds from the account of the payors.

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