BSP says passage of Nat’l Payment System law to level playing field

The passage of the National Payments Systems Act (NPSA) will foster a level playing field for financial institutions in the country and foster more competition in the industry, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.

Signed by President Rodrigo Duterte into law last October, the NPSA provides legal and regulatory framework to support the objectives of maintaining a payment system.

“The NPSA will foster a level playing field for all participants as they will now be governed by a single overarching legal and regulatory framework,” BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in an emailed statement.

“This will bring about more competition, greater efficiency, and foster digital innovations for both banking and payments products and services,” he said.

Under the law, the BSP will oversee payment systems in the Philippines and exercise supervisory and regulatory powers to ensure the stability and effectiveness of the monetary and financial system.

This will include the establishment of a payment system which provides an efficient, secure, and reliable method of exchanging goods and services.

According to the BSP, payment system existing on the day of the effectivity of the law shall be given sufficient time to comply with the requirements of the NPSA.

The law took effect 15 days after was published in the Official Gazette on November 15.

“The BSP will issue implementing rules and regulations, and provide guidance to new entities covered under the NPSA on how to comply with the requirements of said law,” the central bank said. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News