The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued a draft circular in November 2025 proposing tougher financial penalties for payment system participants that fail to meet their reporting obligations, introducing a tiered daily-fine structure calibrated to the size and category of the institution involved.
Under the proposed framework, large commercial banks could face fines of up to PHP 3,000 per day for non-compliant reporting, whilst digital banks would be subject to a daily penalty of PHP 2,000. Thrift banks are proposed to face daily fines of PHP 1,500, rural banks PHP 450, and non-bank payment operators up to PHP 1,000 per day, according to the draft circular published by the BSP.
CONSULTATION
The draft circular is open to consultation, during which supervised entities and industry associations may submit comments and proposed amendments. The BSP has indicated that the objective of the revisions is to strengthen the payment data compliance framework and improve the timeliness and completeness of information flowing to the central bank from the full range of regulated payment system participants.
DIGITAL AND NON-BANK OPERATORS IN SCOPE
Digital payments accounted for 57.4% of retail transaction volume in the Philippines in 2024, up from 52.8% in 2023.
Digital banks, which the BSP began licensing as a separate regulated category in 2021, are assigned a PHP 2,000 daily penalty under the proposal — higher than thrift or rural banks but below the level applicable to large commercial banks.