The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is tightening its oversight of the payments industry with a proposal to impose tougher penalties on operators that fail to meet regulatory reporting standards.
According to FinTech Phillipines, the move is designed to enhance the accuracy and reliability of data the central bank uses to monitor the performance of the country’s rapidly growing digital payments ecosystem.
Under a newly issued draft circular, the BSP is seeking industry feedback on amendments to existing reporting rules that apply to banks, e-wallet providers, and payment gateways. Stakeholders have until 21 November to provide comments on the proposal, which outlines specific fines and sanctions for non-compliant reporting.
The central bank stated that the proposed daily penalties would apply to any operator that fails to submit accurate or timely reports meeting BSP standards. The scale of penalties will vary depending on the type of institution. Large banks could face fines of up to PHP 3,000 per day, while digital banks may incur PHP 2,000 daily. Thrift and rural banks could be fined PHP 1,500 and PHP 450 per day, respectively. Non-bank payment operators may receive penalties of up to PHP 1,000 per day.
To encourage compliance, the BSP will allow one opportunity for operators to resubmit non-compliant reports before the penalty is enforced. In addition to monetary fines, the regulator may impose non-monetary sanctions, such as the suspension or disqualification of directors or officers who fail to uphold reporting standards.
The initiative underscores BSP’s broader strategy to strengthen governance and accountability across the payments sector as digital transactions continue to expand. Data from the central bank showed that digital payments accounted for 57.4% of all retail transactions by volume in 2024, a significant increase from 52.8% in 2023. In terms of transaction value, digital payments represented 59% of total retail activity last year.
The proposed measures are part of BSP’s ongoing push to achieve a fully digitalised and resilient payment ecosystem, with improved transparency and real-time regulatory visibility.
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