THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) encouraged more banks to remove fees for small bank-to-bank transactions as part of its financial inclusion agenda.
Three major banks have waived transfer fees for transactions below P1,000, BSP governor Eli Remolona noted. But he added that other banks should follow suit.
“We’re trying to shame the other major banks into following the same policy,” he said in a press briefing for the launch of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion Global Policy Forum on Thursday, Sept. 14.
Remolona said that when it comes to payments, the poor should not be made to subsidize the rich.
“If you have a credit card and if you’re a big spender, you get rewards, right? Guess who pays for those rewards — it’s the small guys who only charge small amounts in their credit cards,” he added.
He also pushed for more transparency on the fees charged by banks.
“If you’re going to be charged for something, you want to know what you’re being charged for. Those who are dehado, in that respect, are the poor. They don’t really know what they’re being charged for, for the most part,” he said.
The BSP, with the help of the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), hopes to come out with a payments framework to address these issues.
While their discussions mostly revolve around bank transactions for now, Remolona said the payments framework would also include digital transactions. (ABS-CBN News)
