THE PHILIPPINES might fail to reach its payments digitalization targets by 2028 as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) noted that progress has been slow amid worries over emerging cyber risks.
BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. said digitalization efforts are ongoing, but it might take beyond 2028 before the country can meet its targets under the Philippine Development Plan.
鈥淲ell, digitalization continues. It鈥檚 a good thing,鈥 he told Money Talks with Cathy Yang on One News on Friday.
鈥淎t the same time, it brings with it some risks. We worry a lot about cyber risks. So, even as we encourage digitalization, we鈥檙e also trying to get the banks to also make sure that they defend themselves against cyber risks.鈥
Asked if the country remains on track with its target, Mr. Remolona said: 鈥淭o be honest鈥 it (digitalization) has been slow. We鈥檙e on track, but maybe it will take a couple more years than we thought to get where we want to go.鈥
The BSP wants digital payments to make up 60%-70% of the total volume of retail payments by 2028 in line with the Philippine Development Plan.
In 2024, online payments accounted for a 57.4% share in terms of volume and 59% in value terms in the country鈥檚 total monthly retail transactions, according to the BSP鈥檚 2024 Status of Digital Payments in the Philippines report. These are up from 52.8% and 55.3%, respectively, in 2023.聽
Earlier this month, BSP Deputy Governor Lyn I. Javier said social engineering, such as phishing scams, account takeover and identity theft, emerged as the top cyberthreat of the local banking system in the first half of 2025. This made up 76% of the total amount lost to financial fraud during the period.
This was followed by hacking, which accounted for 13% of the total losses, and card-not-present fraud with 8%.
The BSP deputy governor noted that the financial system鈥檚 digital shift is being challenged by more frequent, targeted and more scalable cyberthreats, and that interconnectedness has allowed more cybercriminals to penetrate the system through its vulnerabilities.
Among the BSP鈥檚 priority legislative agenda for the 20th Congress is the Digital Payments Bill, which seeks to advance the use of digital payments in financial transactions between the National Government and the public.
This, as BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan has noted that digital collections comprise only 25% of the government鈥檚 total collections.
The 20th Congress has been working on measures aimed at modernizing the government鈥檚 payment systems.
In early February, Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva filed Senate Bill No. 1821, a measure seeking to require all government agencies and relevant entities to adopt digital payment methods for the disbursement of government funds and collection of taxes, fees, tolls, imposts and other revenues.
It is currently pending for hearing in the Senate Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies Committee.
Enhancing the digital payments system, particularly by making cross-border payments safer and more seamless within the Southeast Asian region, is also one of the BSP鈥檚 key initiatives as part of the Philippines鈥 chairship in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.
Since last year, the central bank has formalized the ASEAN Regional Payment Connectivity program, established 26 cross-border payment linkages as of August 2025, and has been developing a multilateral remittances service for overseas workers, migrants and small businesses under Project Nexus. 鈥 Katherine K. Chan
