BSP to regulate electronic payment schemes
Posted on March 8th, 2009
These days there are more ways in settling any obligations, especially with the advent of the use of electronic money using the mobile phones like Globe’s G-Cash and SmartMoney of Smart. Because of this, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued guidelines to regulate the use of electronic money or e-money.
For purposes of definition, e-money shall include e-wallets that are accessible via mobile phones, stored value cards and the like. Among the guidelines that were issued by BSP were as follows:
Any institution who wish to issue or has already issued e-money must register with the BSP as an electronic money issuer (EMI). EMIs may either be banks, non-bank financial institutions or money transfer agents. Certain documentary requirements must be submitted to the BSP before an entity can be registered as an EMI.
To ensure that risks inherent in e-money businesses are mitigated, and for EMI to adhere to prescribed levels of safety, security and soundness, BSP issued the prescribed minimum requirements for each EMI. Money transfer agents who wish to register as EMI must be a stock corporation with a minimum paid up capital of P100 million for them to be approved by BSP.
Registered EMIs are also required to establish a system that will accurately record all e-money transactions along with other pertinent information. BSP also said that owners of e-money should be able to redeem the amount of e-money in the form of cash at face value.
E-money will not be considered as a bank deposit and therefore are not covered by the deposit insurance from Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) and sets the limit that the can be loaded to any e-money instrument which is P100,000 a month.
Although transactions are done electronically, transactions using e-money shall be subject to anti-money laundering law and requires EMIs to report to the Anti-Money Laundering Council suspicious transactions involving e-money.
The use of the modern payment scheme is fast becoming a popular option for most Filipino entrepreneurs these days, prompting BSP to issue the guidelines regulating these transactions.
