BPI on waiving InstaPay, PESONet transfer fees: If intrabank is free, why not interbank?

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) on Wednesday explained its decision to offer free interbank transfers, with president and chief executive officer Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco saying the only difference between intrabank and interbank transfers is the P1.50 switch fee for InstaPay transactions.

According to Limcaoco, banks already incur the same technology, cybersecurity, and customer service costs for both intrabank and interbank transfers. The only additional cost, he said, is the “switch fee,” paid to a payment network that processes transactions between banks.

“As far as the BSP is concerned, my interpretation of what the BSP is saying is that you can charge anything you want, but the difference has to be P1.50… We think if banks are willing to offer on-us free, why wouldn’t you give the P1.50 also for free?” he told reporters in Makati City.

“That’s my view. I don’t know if the other banks will agree, but I think the BSP is very clear that the difference has to be the switch fee and we’ll see where that goes,” he added.

His remarks came after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued Memorandum 2026-025, which implements Circular 1238, stating that any difference between intrabank and interbank transfer fees should reflect only the actual switch cost—the cost of processing a transaction through a payment network.

At present, a number of Philippine banks already offer free intrabank fund transfers. As Limcaoco said the switch cost for interbank InstaPay transfers was estimated at P1.50, this should be the only charge for the transactions with other banks.

“My view is they have to follow the BSP circular, and the BSP circular says your difference can only be the network fee so you either go P0 and P1.50 or you go P13.50 and P15, or P8.50 and P10, ” Limcaoco said.

“Kami we said why would you charge P1.50 pa? [For us, we said why would you still charge P1.50?]” he added.

BPI on Wednesday, July 1, permanently removed transfer fees from transactions made through InstaPay and PESONet, expected to benefit over 9.5 million enrolled users of its app. Transfers to other banks and e-wallets for all verified VYBE users also remain free.

“We think this just generates a lot more customers, a lot more activity, our ability to understand what the customer does. Therefore, we can see if a customer stays with us, we can see what kind of services we can give them — loans, credit cards, insurance, or deposits,” Limcaoco said.

Other banks have yet to make similar announcements on the removal of interbank transfer fees.

BPI closed 2025 with a P66.62-billion net income, up 7.4% from the previous year, as net interest income grew 16% to P148 billion. Total revenues climbed 14.8% to P195.3 billion Assets hit P3.625 trillion, making it the second-biggest bank in the country.

The Ayala-led lender is looking to reach high single-digit growth in its net income and mid-teens in its loans this year, with optimism over a rebound in borrowing demand as global and local uncertainties ease. — BM, GMA News