Philippines central bank drafts one-year freeze on new payment operators

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has circulated a draft rule that would stop accepting applications from new payment system operators for a full year.

The break is in order to give the regulator time to rebuild how it licenses and supervises the firms that move money through the country’s QR and mobile payment systems.

Why did Bangko Sentral ng pause its operations?

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has written a full-year freeze of its operations into a proposed circular titled “Regulations to Strengthen Integrity Controls in Payment Transactions,” which amends the Manual of Regulations for Payment Systems.

There has been growing concern inside the BSP that mobile and QR payments have expanded faster than banks and regulators can follow the money. Investigators also say that layered arrangements between intermediaries make it hard to name the actual seller behind a payment or to freeze a suspicious flow while it is happening.

If approved, for 12 months, the BSP would neither accept nor process new applications to run a payment system. Firms already waiting in line will have their files stay under review during the freeze. Companies would also be blocked from launching activities that need operator registration unless the central bank signs off separately.

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