By Derco Rosal
Published Jun 18, 2026 05:30 pm
President Marcos’ chief economic manager has raised concerns over the country’s high digital transaction costs, pushing for reforms that would align fees across public and private payment channels and slash charges from their current levels.
Speaking during a media roundtable, Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go said that reducing these transaction costs is a primary agenda of his leadership, citing the stark gap between local fees and those in neighboring Asian nations.
“There’s one thing I’m obsessing about—the very high digital transaction costs in the Philippines,” Go told reporters, pointing out that local transaction fees can soar to as high as ₱50, while regional peers charge only cents or nothing at all.
Go’s sentiments mirror the recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, which flagged the country's expensive domestic fees as an outlier in the region. The IMF attributed these higher costs to the Philippines’ fragmented financial infrastructure.
This persistent problem has prompted the finance chief to express his intent to leave a “legacy” of bringing digital payment costs down. “Our objective is simple: digital payments should be fast, secure, convenient, and affordable,” he said.
For Go, the ideal cost could be as low as ₱2, noting that payment operations still incur basic processing fees.
To set the pace, the Department of Finance (DOF) is already putting the government’s own financial machinery to work.
As chairman of the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), Go shared that he did not mince words with the state-run lender’s executives when questioning their previous ₱15 transaction fee. “I told them, why are you charging people ₱15? What is the bare cost to the bank?” he recalled.
That directive prompted the state-run lender to slash its person-to-person (P2P) fees from ₱15 to ₱8.
To further catalyze digital adoption, Landbank is currently running a trial offering zero convenience fees for person-to-government (P2G) transactions for agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Go believes this move will spark a chain reaction across the industry. “You only need one of the major players to lower its fees, and competition will follow. Once that happens, convenience fees will come down. I think this will also put pressure on agencies that continue to charge high convenience fees,” he said.
Clearing hidden technical friction is another hurdle the existing system needs to overcome. According to Go, banks within the domestic financial system must achieve true interoperability, allowing users to transfer funds across institutions without incurring steep penalties. If digital transactions must have any costs at all, those should ideally be limited to minimal switching fees, Go noted.
The Finance chief added that industry feedback on these measures is currently being solicited, with ongoing talks between the DOF, the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), and the Fintech Alliance PH—efforts he said align with the central bank’s overarching direction.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) previously sought to require operators of payment systems (OPS) to price fund transfer charges in line with market rates. Under the central bank’s framework, however, initial plans to completely eliminate fees on small-value fund transfers were ultimately shelved.
Go’s agenda also targets lowering remittance costs for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Just as he questioned domestic banking transaction costs, he raised a red flag over average remittance fees that hover around 10 percent.
For the Finance chief, the current status quo is a "pitiful" tax on labor. “It’s crazy! It’s blood, sweat, and tears at 10 percent just for sending money back home,” he lamented, stressing that the mission to slash costs must ensure the earnings of Filipinos working abroad are not eroded by digital tolls.
Lawmakers have also picked up the mantle, pushing for the passage of the OFWs Remittance Protection Act, a measure that aims to reduce remittance fees for OFWs by half to protect offshore workers from excessive charges and financial exploitation.
