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Philippine central bank Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is looking into creating a cross-border payment network across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, according to a recent ABS-CBN News report.
BSP already has an agreement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to talk about allowing and regulating cross-border payments between Singaporeans and Filipinos, the report states. The central bank sees ePayments as a benefit for Filipinos and the local export, import and tourism businesses.
BSP Director Raymond Estioko expects an agreement soon on how the countries can facilitate and regulate cross-border payments across the region to allow people in either country to make digital payments quickly and at little to no charge, but there’s no formal deal in place yet.
The BSP is talking to other countries in the region about launching the ASEAN Payment Network, said Estioko, noting that there’s still work to be done to finalize its agreement with Singapore.
“There is constant communication with our ASEAN neighbors to enter with cross-border agreements with them,” he said. “Singapore was just the first because of our strong economic relationship with them. We have bilateral and multilateral experience with them, which we can learn from.”
Once the deal is signed with Singapore, either Malaysia or Thailand is expected to be next, one official told ABS-CBN News. Among the areas being discussed in the negotiations between BSP and MAS is how to handle disputes. Data privacy, identity verification, payment settlements, foreign exchange and other digital banking services are also on the table.
In September, Philippines central bank Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved a digital banking license for FinTech PayMaya, an arm of Voyager Innovations, to allow the company to roll out a digital banking unit called Maya Bank.
PayMaya became the sixth digital lender in the country. BSP will use PayMaya’s tech platforms to offer mobile-first digital banking to clients.
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