Digital payments gaining ground as PhilPaSSplus transactions climb

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January 4, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The value and volume of transactions processed through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s Philippine Payment and Settlement System (PhilPaSS) plus rose in the third quarter of 2025, driven by higher activity in both large-value and retail payments.

Based on the BSP’s latest report on economic and financial developments, the value of PhilPaSSplus transactions reached P151.3 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, 21 percent higher than the previous year’s P125.1 trillion.

The BSP attributed the increase mainly to a 19.3 percent rise in the value of large payments, specifically intra-account transfers. The value of retail payment transactions also increased by 12 percent, with automated clearing houses recording the fastest growth at 29.7 percent.

By value, large-value transactions dominated at 84.8 percent of total PhilPaSSplus activity. Transactions between participants and the BSP had the highest share at 59.4 percent, followed by foreign exchange settlements at 10.9 percent. Retail payments accounted for 13 percent of total value, with customer payments representing the largest share at 6.3 percent.

In terms of volume, PhilPaSSplus transactions climbed by nine percent to 459,818 from July to September last year compared to 421,680 a year ago, driven by higher volumes of both large-value and retail payment transactions, the BSP said.

Large-value transactions increased by 15.1 percent, supported by strong growth in intra-account transfers which rose by 28.2 percent, foreign exchange settlements which climbed by 26.6 percent and securities settlements which expanded by 13.9 percent.

Transactions between the BSP and PhilPaSSplus participants also grew by 12.8 percent, further lifting large-value payment volumes.

Retail payments posted a more modest 2.9 percent increase, buoyed by higher check transactions at nine percent, automated teller machine transactions at 4.5 percent, customer payments at 2.8 percent as well as automated clearing house transactions at 2.4 percent.

The central bank said the overall increase in transaction volume “was supported by the BSP’s digitalization initiatives, including the Paleng-QR Ph program and ongoing financial literacy initiatives.”

PhilPaSSplus is the BSP’s peso real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system that enables instant and secure settlement of large-value, financial market and retail transactions.

Looking ahead, the BSP said PhilPaSSplus is expected to play a critical role should the central bank introduce a wholesale central bank digital currency. In such a scenario, PhilPaSSplus would serve as “one of the core infrastructures for the conversion of RTGS funds to CBDC and conversely from CBDC to RTGS funds.”

The BSP noted that a near-24/7 RTGS environment would provide “the essential operational backbone for a secure and efficient CBDC ecosystem,” enabling seamless CBDC issuance and redemption, alignment with offshore CBDC systems and support for pilot projects and interoperability initiatives.

Real-time access to central bank money, whether in fiat or CBDC form, would also ensure always-on liquidity management, reinforcing confidence in the CBDC ecosystem and supporting smooth transaction flows.

The BSP added that this setup would “create a strong foundation for innovation, enabling future use cases such as tokenized assets and programmable payments.”