The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has introduced new regulations to improve the handling of customer issues with electronic fund transfers (EFTs) under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS). In a circular, the Monetary Board outlined standards for financial institutions involved in the InstaPay and PesoNet systems.
The BSP circular mandates that originating financial institutions (OFIs) must promptly notify senders about the status of their EFTs and continue providing updates until any issues are resolved. On the other hand, receiving financial institutions are required to inform beneficiaries once funds are successfully credited. To ensure clarity, all Automated Clearing House (ACH) participants must use standardized messaging to communicate the status of transfers.
Key provisions include specified time frames for refunding EFTs that fail to reach beneficiaries. For InstaPay, which processes instant payments, the originating institution must return funds within one hour of receiving the payment instructions. For PesoNet, which handles batch payments, refunds must occur within two hours after clearing advice is received from the clearing switch operator (CSO). This represents a significant improvement over the current industry norm of two to three banking days.
The Circular also emphasizes the need for ACH participants and CSOs to establish guidelines for notifying users during both scheduled and unscheduled service disruptions. Also, it reinforces the importance of 24/7 customer support and adherence to BSP’s circular about financial consumer protection.
Participants are granted a transition period to comply with these new requirements by Jan. 1, 2025. This policy aims to boost trust and confidence in digital payments by ensuring prompt and effective resolution of EFT-related concerns.
At present, the NRPS framework includes 86 InstaPay and 112 PesoNet participants, spanning digital banks, universal banks, commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, and non-bank electronic money issuers.