The Philippines hits digital payments target

A total of 3.94 billion digital transactions were recorded in 2025.

The Philippines has met its digital payments target, with 64.69% of retail payments made via digital means in 2025, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

Digital payments also made up 53.32% of all payment value made in 2025, down from 59.98% in 2024, the central bank said in an August 2026 report.

A total of 3.94 billion digital transactions were recorded in 2025, out of 6.09 billion transactions overall.

A lot of the growth is due to the BSP’s insistence on interoperability, ensuring that a growing number of businesses and service providers are on one system, said BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr.

Merchant payments drove the digital payment momentum in 2025, accounting for 74.31% of total electronic payment transactions. BSP said this is due to the rapid expansion of QR transactions.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) remittance accounted for 17.7% of all electronic transactions, whilst B2B supplier payments comprised 3.67% of the total electronic payments.

The BSP recently rolled out three new payment services, including a Direct Debit service allowing billers to automatically collect payments on scheduled due dates, and a way for users to send requests for funds to another user via bank or e-wallets.

The central bank recently urged banks and e-wallets to cut interbank transfer fees, leading major banks to reduce fees to zero between late June and July.