BSP Urges Bank To Make Sure they Can Meet Demand for Increased Digital Banking Transactions

April 27, 2020 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) urges BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (BSFIs) and Operators of Payment Systems (OPS) to reinforce their capabilities to address the needs of customers who will be using their digital financial channels to fulfill basic financial and payment transactions.

Amid the current public health situation due to COVID-19, digital channels are more important than ever for the customer’s financial needs. The increase in the number of people accessing such services might be faced with potential capacity issues on the side of the financial institution. BSP said some key capacity problems may be encountered during the ECQ period because key IT or operations personnel, as well as critical 3rd party service providers, might not be available. BSP further said that service degradation might be unavoidable but financial institutions must anticipate this issue by developing mitigation plans or strategies, and implementation of compensating controls to minimize the impact of the disruption to the customers.

The BSP, however, noted that the current situation presents an opportunity for financial institutions to market their new and existing financial products and services.

In a previous report, the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has triggered the increase in the number of people using digital banking in the Philippines. The ECQ is currently in effect until May 15, 2020 in various regions in the Philippines. According to UnionBank of the Philippines President Edwin Bautista, many Filipinos have seen the advantages of online banking during the lockdown. The bank said it witnessed their daily signups increased by 160%, processed 500,000 credit card transactions, and 1 million InstaPay and PESONet transfer fees.

Read the BSP Memorandum here.

This article is published on BitPinas: BSP Urges Bank To Make Sure they Can Meet Demand for Increased Digital Banking Transactions