BancNet, the country’s largest ATM consortium, reported unprecedented growth last year, making 2011 a record year.
The consortium grew 43.55% with the 27 banks and cooperatives that joined BancNet during the year. In 2010, it had 8 new members, an increase of only 13.5% from the previous year. The new members are led by Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). BancNet now has a total of 89 members, including 2 affiliate switch networks.
BancNet president Robert Blas said, “We continue to attract new members because of our wide range of services that our members and their customers enjoy.
“One of these is the online payment of Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and Victory Liner tickets using ATM cards. Another is the online filing and payment of taxes, and also the online remittance of SSS contributions and loan repayments which is very convenient for OFWs. Others are mobile ordering and payment of Ayala Cinema tickets, and online payment of tuition fees.
“We are now stress-testing our Philhealth system which is part of BancNet’s e-Gov platform. This will enable companies to electronically send their reports and member contributions to Philhealth,” Blas added.
BancNet is the only ATM consortium accredited by the BIR for its EFPS or Electronic Filing and Payment System and by SSS.
The year saw the BancNet ATM network expand at the rate of 25.65% to 5, 804 machines as of the end of 2011. As such, BancNet accounts for 50% of all ATMs nationwide. The number includes the first ATM that BancNet owns which it launched in October 2011.
ATM cardholders of BancNet members on the other hand, grew by 24%, or 2.4 million, bringing the total to 12.36 million cardholders, securing a dominant 37.4 % market share.
According to BancNet EVP and Chief Operating Officer Aris Zafra, BancNet processed a total of 363.3 million switched transactions the whole year. This is 10.52% more than in 2010 and translates to an average of almost 1 million transactions a day. The peak volume last December 15, at 2.28 million switched transactions, set a new record,” he said.
“Despite the heavy volume, BancNet maintained its host availability rate of 99.99%,” Zafra added. “We are committed to maintain this high standard even as our member banks, cardholders, and ATMs increase further this year,“ he assured. “As a matter of fact, we are upgrading our switch system to the latest version this year.”
