Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor for Payments and Currency Management Sector Mamerto Tangonan said Wednesday an instant cross-border digital remittance in Southeast Asia will be online by July 2026.
In a press chat, Tangonan said central banks in the region target the ASEAN Nexus Platform to be operational in two years.
He said the transaction cost for the cross-border digital money transfer would be 3 percent or lower.
BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said this innovation in instant money transfer among financial institutions in ASEAN through digital technology will make remittances faster and cheaper.
According to the ACI Worldwide and the World Economic Forum, five out of the top 10 economies across the world in terms of e-wallet adoption are from ASEAN, led by Thailand and Vietnam with adoption rates of 92 and 91 percent, respectively.
The Philippines ranked fifth at 88 percent, Malaysia ranked sixth at 86 percent, and Indonesia ranked eighth at 82 percent.
Remolona said the BSP hopes to deploy this kind of financial services in regions with large number of overseas Filipinos, especially in the Americas and Europe.
He said this would further strengthen the remittances to the Philippines.
In 2023, overseas Filipinos remittance recorded an all-time high value of USD33.5 billion, growing by 2.9 percent from USD32 billion in 2022. (PNA)
