Electronic payments network Bancnet on Friday said switched transactions that passed thru its network breached the 2-billion mark in 2024, with a total of 2.37 billion transactions for the year.
Bancnet, in a statement, said this is 690 million, or 41.2 percent more than the 1.68 billion switched transactions recorded for the whole of 2023. It added that 2024’s transaction volume was worth a total of P11.38 trillion, P2.88-trillion or 33.9 percent higher than the 2023 total value of P8.50 trillion.
Bancnet explained that switched transactions consist mainly of fund transfers, cash withdrawals, balance inquiry, bills payment, payments to merchants using a debit card or QR Ph code, and payments to government agencies. “They are transactions of a bank or e-wallet customer using the facilities, services, billers, and business establishment-partners of another bank or e-wallet, such as ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, the QR Ph code, and InstaPay,” the statement said.
As the national switch for ATMs and POS terminals, BancNet interconnects these banking channels to provide enhanced convenience to its members’ customers. Bancnet said fund transfers and payments through InstaPay, dominated the network’s volume last year, “as consumers continued to savor the convenience of digital fund transfers and payments which was stimulated during the COVID 19 pandemic.”
“InstaPay transactions, at 1.45 billion, comprised 61.4 percent of the 2.37 billion switched transactions processed, while other transactions had a share of 38.6 percent, at 920 million,” InstaPay is a real-time fund transfer service operated by BancNet which was designated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as operator of a designated payment system (ODPS).
InstaPay enables a bank or e-wallet customer to securely transfer funds from a bank or e-wallet account to another account in a different bank or e-wallet in real-time, using his mobile app. “As ODPS, BancNet is tasked to ensure the safe, efficient, and reliable operations of InstaPay,” the statement added.
BancNet also said its systems remained robust throughout 2024, delivering average service availability rates of 99.995 percent for InstaPay and 99.994 percent for ATM services.
BancNet has 110 members with a combined card base of over 121.2 million, and an extensive network of more than 27,600 ATMs, about 607,000 POS terminals, 90 InstaPay participants and over 1,600 biller companies.
