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By Eireene Jairee Gomez
(UPDATE) THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is encouraging the public to exercise the giving of digital cash gifts this Yuletide season.
"We encourage our countrymen to take advantage of the ease and safety provided by digital finance in sending their cash gifts during the holidays," the BSP said in a statement on Monday.
The central bank noted that ninongs, ninangs (godparents) and other gift givers who intend to give cash as pamasko (gifts), as well as Filipinos who want to donate to charitable institutions, can transmit money conveniently through a wide array of digital payment channels available in the country.
These include interbank fund transfers through InstaPay and PESONet, electronic money issuers that are more commonly known as e-wallets, and QR Ph, which entails code scanning and offers consumers faster, easier and cheaper payment options.
QR Ph is based on the Europay-Mastercard-VISA standard, the global standard for secure payments.
According to BSP, the giving of e-aguinaldo supports the central bank's broader thrust to foster the wider adoption of digital payments, which promotes financial inclusion and the efficient flow of funds in the economy.
The BSP pursues this under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, which aims to convert at least half of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and to onboard at least 70 percent of Filipino adults to the financial system through transaction account ownership by 2023.
