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Bank of the Philippine Islands to End Fees for InstaPay and PESONet Transfers Starting July 1
BPI will remove charges for interbank transfers on its app and other channels starting July 1. The move follows a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas circular that ended a five-year moratorium on fee changes.
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Bank of the Philippine Islands will make InstaPay and PESONet interbank transfers free starting July 1 on the BPI app, BPI online banking, VYBE, BanKo, and BizKo. Rappler reported that the bank previously charged most app users P10 per InstaPay transaction and P50 per PESONet transfer.
The zero-fee policy carries no daily limit on the number of free InstaPay transfers and is expected to benefit more than 9.5 million enrolled BPI app users.
BPI president and chief executive officer TG Limcaoco said in a June 29 press release that making interbank transfers free is a meaningful step toward enabling customers to move money more freely. He added that the policy is expected to drive more frequent use of digital transfers as customers no longer have to factor in per-transaction costs.
In 2024, BPI’s own study showed each interbank transfer cost the bank about P22.
The announcement follows the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issuance of Circular No. 1238 on June 28, which ended its nearly five-year moratorium on changes to InstaPay and PESONet fees. The circular requires that fees for transfers across banks, e-wallets, and other payment providers should not be materially different from fees within the same institution, except mainly to reflect the switch or network cost.
The BSP stated that transfers within one bank or e-wallet are often free, so any difference in pricing should mainly reflect fees paid to the network switch operator. Land Bank of the Philippines has already reduced its InstaPay transfer fee for individuals from P15 to P8 and offers one free InstaPay transfer per day for transactions worth P1,000 and below.
