Philippines-based BancNet has entered into an agreement with Mastercard to tap into the real-time payments technology of Vocalink to enhance the capabilities of InstaPay, a Filipino retail payments system.
Image: BancNet signs agreement with Mastercard to improve capabilities of InstaPay. Photo: courtesy of MasterCard.
BancNet, which is an interbank network that connects the ATM networks of local and offshore banks, is the national clearing switch operator for InstaPay.
Vocalink is a Mastercard company which designs, builds and operates bank account-based payment systems. The UK-based payment systems company is expected to help BancNet in providing InstaPay users with enhanced services, stronger security features and better data capabilities.
Through the use of the Vocalink technology, InstaPay, which primarily supports person-to-person (P2P) payments, will extend its reach to cover broader consumer payments, government and commercial payments. The Vocalink technology will also enable in activating fund transfers with the use of easy-to-remember proxies like mobile numbers and email addresses.
Mastercard said that the partnership will enable BancNet to leapfrog multiple generations of payments technology and put Philippines in a leading position for the latest innovations in account-based real-time payments.
To execute the partnership, Mastercard will operate the infrastructure using a regional payments hub in the Asia Pacific region. The company will leverage the ISO 20022 messaging format, which optimizes communications across financial institutions, provides improved transaction data for mitigating risk, and enables compliance with regulatory requirements.
Through the infrastructure, BancNet is expected to provide more seamless and secure services to its members. Particularly, the new infrastructure will provide cutting-edge data analytics and anti-money laundering (AML) services to help the Filipino company’s members identify “mule accounts”, said Mastercard.
Mastercard Asia Pacific co-president Ari Sarker said: “Mastercard has enduring partnerships with governments and companies in the region and is committed to helping them realize their digital ambitions, enabling connected commerce for everyone.”
The collaboration between BancNet and Mastercard will also support the vision of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, of seeing 20% of all payment transactions in the country to be digital by next year.
BancNet president Cezar Consing said: “BancNet’s use of Mastercard and Vocalink’s technology will turbocharge InstaPay and lay the foundation for the growth of cashless payments in the Philippines. BancNet is excited to adopt this state-of-the-art technology and to contribute to the digitalization of our country.”