Bangko Sentral Pushes QR Ph Payments

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is encouraging consumers, payment service providers, and merchants, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to avail themselves of the benefits offered by the QR Ph Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payment facility.

Photo Insert: The QR Ph payment facility

“There are no fees charged to customers making payments to merchants using QR Ph P2M. This feature makes using digital channels reasonable even for small-value transactions, such as jeepney or tricycle fares, or payment of goods from market vendors or sari-sari store owners,” explained BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno.

The QR Ph P2M is a safe, convenient, and affordable option that allows customers to pay for goods and services without paying transaction fees. Payments of customers are received by store owners in real-time as QR Ph P2M runs via InstaPay, which is available 24/7.

Through the facility, merchants can receive payments in their physical or online stores through QR codes regardless of where their transaction accounts and those of their customers are maintained. Merchants enrolled in QR Ph P2M also need not display numerous QR codes in their establishments or online sites.

QR Ph P2M is supported by the national QR code standard, which is aligned with the global standards of Europay-Mastercard VISA Co (EMVCo).

Payments are secured via QR code as transferred data is encrypted. Both merchants and customers can be assured that when the customer scans the merchant’s QR code, the payment is sent to the correct account number of the merchant. This simple process of scanning eliminates possible errors when doing manual input of account details.

Moreover, consumers only need their mobile phones and need not carry cash or debit, or credit cards. Meanwhile, merchants must only print the QR code that their payment service providers will generate for them, display those codes, and obtain payments by simply asking their customers to scan the codes.

Merchants can generate savings as the QR technology decreases cash handling costs and eliminates the need to invest in costly data capture equipment. This is expected to help big and small merchants achieve greater productivity and competitiveness.

“QR Ph P2M provides an easy-to-use and convenient option for customers and a low-cost digital payment solution to businesses. It can serve as a digital gateway for micro-merchants, allowing them to sustain their operations under the post-COVID economy by offering safe and secure payment options,” explained Governor Diokno.

Merchants interested to offer QR Ph P2M as a payment option need to engage with their bank or e-money issuer to know their respective payment service provider’s requirements. Once merchants have been provided with a QR code by their payment service providers, they can start accepting payments from customers through QR Ph P2M.

“We are confident that QR Ph P2M will spur the accelerated usage of digital payments in the country, allowing even more Filipinos to enjoy the benefits of going digital. This will help reinforce the attainment of the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap’s strategic goal to convert half of total retail payments into digital form by 2023,” the Governor added.

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