BancNet, the country’s largest electronic banking consortium and ATM network, recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to link its network to PhilPaSS for the electronic settlement of network funds.
PhilPaSS, or Philippine Payments and Settlements System, is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) where both processing and final settlement of fund transfer instructions can take place continuously, in real time, in the banks’ demand deposit accounts maintained with BSP. Owned and operated by BSP since 2002, PhilPaSS has 35 commercial banks, 3 specialized government banks, 40 thrift banks, 30 rural banks, 14 quasi banks, and 3 BSP departments connected to it.
Bangko Sentral governor Amando Tetangco welcomed BancNet’s participation in PhilPaSS. “With BancNet now part of PhilPaSS, we reduce potential settlement risks that can come from the inability of member banks to meet ATM withdrawals,” he said during the signing ceremony at the BSP. “Such inability to meet financial obligations could lead to widespread liquidity or credit problems and threaten the stability of the financial markets…that it is why ensuring a safe, sound and efficient payment and settlement system is the third pillar of central banking,” Tetangco added.
BancNet chairman Ricardo Chua, for his part said, “We are confident that aside from providing us a faster, safer, and highly reliable payment and settlement system, this move will result in a tremendous improvement in managing our settlement risks. We consider the adoption of PhilPaSS to be a game changing solution in terms of reducing the settlement risks that we face everyday.”
BancNet has 77 member institutions with over 5,300 ATMs, accounting for half of the total ATMs in the market. It processes the largest volume of switched transactions at an average of almost 30 million transactions monthly.
In terms of the amount of funds exchanged between banks, its highest single-day settlement amounted to 2.4 billion pesos. “We expect our settlement figures to balloon in the coming years as BancNet’s expansion continues,” Chua said. “With PhilPaSS, our member banks will remain confident that at the end of the day, their claims will be paid with high priority and finality.”
BancNet directors and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials at the signing ceremony. Seated are(from left): BSP deputy governor Juan de Zuniga, Jr. BancNet chairman Ricardo Chua, BSP governor Amando Tetangco, Jr, BancNet president Robert Blas and executive vice president – chief operating officer Aristeo Zafra, Jr. Standing are: BSP deputy governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr,and Equicom Savings Bank chairman Antonio Go (5th & 6th from left) with BancNet directors (from left) Angelito Evangelista of Robinsons Bank, Lance Martinez of HSBC, Luz Blanco of Metrobank, Abigail del Rosario of Standard Chartered Bank, Rafael Sison of Allied Bank; Roberto Reyes of PBCom, Elizabeth Coronel of Equicom Savings Bank and George Castro of Philtrust Bank.
