Enhanced guidelines on digitalization among Philippine banks will be released within the year to level the playing field, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said Tuesday.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier, in her speech during the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) convention in Makati City on Tuesday, cited the rising number of banks that adopt digital platforms to provide better services and products.

Citing BSP data, she said about 73.2 percent of the 41 thrift banks in the country have electronic payment and financial services (ePFS) licenses.

In particular, 48.8 percent of TBs provide InstaPay and 43.9 percent offers PESONet service, both of which are electronic fund transfer services under the BSP’s National Retail Payment System (NRPS) program.

With more banks providing electronic payments, Fonacier said they need to assess financial institutions’ level of digital centricity “to establish the indicators that will be considered in assessing the level of digital centricity of said banks, among others, to ensure proportionate application of prudential requirements.”

“This approach promotes a level playing field and ensures consistent application of regulatory requirements and expectations between digital banks and digital-centric banks,” she said.

In an interview on the sidelines of the event, the BSP official explained that they will require banks to have higher capital for their digitalization bid.

“The guidelines will be issued. It still is for consideration by the MB (Monetary Board),” she said, but clarified that the BSP has not issued new licenses for digital banks and the players remain at six.

Digital banks, which the BSP defines as financial institutions that offer financial products and services “that are processed end-to-end through a digital platform and/or electronic channels with no physical branch/s”, are required to have a minimum capital of PHP1 billion. (PNA)