Philippine Banks and E-Wallets Must Meet New Digital-Transfer Pricing Rules by July 2026

Banks, e-wallet operators, and other Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-supervised institutions have until July 4, 2026, to comply with Circular No. 1238, which takes effect that day. Rappler reported that the circular requires adoption of a reasonable and fair market-based pricing mechanism for electronic payment transactions.

BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said on July 3 that payment service providers are expected to comply when the rules take effect. He added that failure to comply could lead to enforcement action that begins with friendly reminders followed by less friendly reminders. Several institutions have already lowered or eliminated digital transfer fees, including Landbank, BPI, and RCBC.

Prior fees ranged from around P10 to P25 and upward. Under the circular, the price difference between on-us and off-us transfers must be limited to the switch fee of around P1.50 for InstaPay transfers. Tangonan stated that off-us transaction prices must be the same as on-us prices or cannot exceed the on-us price plus the switch fee.

The circular covers traditional banks as well as BSP-supervised payment providers and e-wallet operators including GCash and Maya. The rules also ease onboarding requirements for low-risk merchants such as sari-sari stores, beauty shops, and bakeries, allowing a national ID or other identity document instead of business permits.

Tangonan said the goal is to increase consumer usage of digital payments by removing high fees as a barrier and to raise merchant acceptance to create a virtuous cycle of more consumers and merchants.