Bayad and DepEd, Empowering Filipino Youth Through Financial Literacy

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Based on the 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the number of Filipino adults without savings increased to 63% from 47% in 2019, partly attributed to the global health crisis that may have reduced household income or increased medical expenses.

The BSP added that the percentage of savers significantly declined, particularly among adults in the National Capital Region, South Luzon, and Visayas regions. “The lower incidence of savings in 2021 was recorded across geographical areas except in Mindanao, which registered an increase and surpassed all areas,” the report said.

It is in this light that Bayad, formerly known as Bayad Center -- the pioneer and industry-leader in bill payments, and the Department of Education (DepEd), advocating a financial mindset that everything must be economically and sufficiently enough, launched a comprehensive school program aptly called “Bayad: Sapat Dapat”. This advocacy reinforces the importance of financial literacy and management in the formation years of Filipino students.

Culminating the 5-year program was the recently concluded Sapat Dapat Quizbee on Financial Literacy, where majority of the secondary public and private schools in all divisions of Region 7 and Region 4A participated. The eliminations started last February 2022, with remaining 45 students competing for the finals, held virtually last September 8, 2022 under the supervision of DepEd, Bayad, and Marylindbert International, Inc.

After a series of case studies and questions on financial management, savings, and priority-setting, the City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy from Bogo Cebu emerged as this year’s Quizbee Champion, represented by its Grade 9 student, Angel L. Mollona and coach Natasha Jane Y. Estrera.

Angel shares “Ang pag-apil sa Sapat Dapat Quiz Bee sa Financial Literacy magahatag sa atong mga estudyante og maayong pagsabot sa sukaranang mga prinsipyo ug ideya kon unsaon pagdumala sa kuwarta sa wais nga pamaagi, ug sa samang higayon naga-andam kanato alang sa umaabot diin kini nga mga leksyon magamit kanato sa pagtukod ug kaugalingong pamilya ug karera.” (“Participating in the Sapat Dapat Quiz Bee on Financial Literacy gives us students a good grasp on basic principles and ideas on how to manage our money wisely, and at the same time prepares us for a future where these lessons can be applied when we build our own families and career.”)

Joining Angel in the roster of financial literacy champions are 2nd place winner - Maria Theofannie P. Alviola of Ramon Teves Pastor Memorial Dumaguete Science High School, 3rd place winner - Marcus L. Cionello Jr. of Mabolo National High School, 4th place winner – Ivan C. Bunaos of Babag National High School, and 5th place winner - Mariel Miculob of Tabalong National High School.

Cebu City Education Program Supervisor and School Governance Operations Division OIC Chief, Lyra L. Illaga shares, “We are grateful for Bayad and Marylindbert International for inviting us to be a part of the Sapat Dapat Comprehensive School Program Financial Literacy Quiz Bee. We are looking forward for a continuous collaboration as we open more doors in the development of our learners. Essentially, financial education is key in attaining youth empowerment and economic well-being, para sa bata para sa bayan.”

Bayad and DepEd’s Sapat Dapat Comprehensive School Program is on its 3rd year of molding future financial leaders in the Grades 9 to 12 students of 40 adopted schools in Regions 7 and 4A.

“We envision the Sapat Dapat program as a tool that will equip our students with the proper knowledge on budgeting and money matters, as these will significantly help in their financial decisions later on. By teaching both children and adults the value of financial literacy, we become instrumental in empowering Filipinos and bringing the nation’s financial awareness to the next level. This is the bigger picture. This is what we stand for,” shares Mr. Wendell P. Labre, Bayad’s AVP and Head for Corporate Branding & Marketing Services.

Bayad Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, Dennis S. Gatuslao added, “We at Bayad recognize the role of the youth as catalysts for our economic resiliency. We will continue to strengthen our partnership with the Department of Education as we aim to broaden the provision of relevant and inclusive financial education. “

Bayad President and CEO, Lawrence Y. Ferrer also shared, “All of our efforts in Bayad are directed towards elevating the standard of living of our kababayans. We continue to push forward our cause through the Sapat Dapat Comprehensive School Program, understanding that our youth are the key drivers in nurturing a sound financial culture. We are thankful to the Department of Education for giving us the opportunity to carry on this initiative and give back to the communities that we serve.”

GCash backs BSP in providing digital payments solutions to grassroots merchants

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES -- GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, is making strides in fulfilling the country’s goal of developing e-payments at the grassroots level, as it empowers micro-entrepreneurs and small enterprises to transact with customers through their mobile phones. 

Aside from huge mall establishments, quick-service restaurants, and supermarkets, GCash has also empowered the simple sari-sari store and tricycles to make digital transactions via GCash’s QR. 

This initiative, seen to revolutionize and transform the way Filipinos transact every day, is supportive of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) goal of creating a more inclusive society through a cashless revolution. 

“We are one with the BSP in concretizing our shared vision of spurring cashless transactions in the Philippines to make it easier for merchants and consumers to transact with one another. We are committed to continuously elevate this by developing more products and services that are fit for the needs of our valued partners,” GCash President Anthony Thomas said. 

GCash QR uses the best-in-class technologies that provide merchants with a fast, reliable, secure, and convenient way of accepting payments. By transacting through mobile phones, GCash QR removes the need for point-of-sale terminals, maintenance, and manual cash sweeping. 

Aside from benefiting largely from the huge customer base of GCash, merchants can also set up their business QR payments facility for free. GCash also provides business partners with periodic reports to oversee the performance of their stores. 

Today, there are about 34,000 micro-entrepreneurs onboard the GCash QR technology, and 1,800 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) using the GCash as a mode of payment. 

These merchants include the vendors of the Marikina Public Market, the tricycle drivers of Boracay Island, and the sari-sari stores of Semirara Island, among others. 

Just recently, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the central bank is envisioning a future where digital payments through transaction accounts will be part of the Filipino consumer culture. 

Going cashless, he said, benefits both merchants and consumers, as it removes the need for bringing cash, reducing the risk of theft, improving cash handling processes, and provide lower administrative and overhead costs. 

Diokno also said the central bank is now targeting to increase the share of non-cash transactions to 30 percent from the original 20-percent goal by 2020. 

“Our support for the government’s initiative for a more cashless Philippines remains steadfast, and we at GCash are committed to taking this a step further by creating more innovative financial solutions that will ultimately bring us closer to our goal of providing finance for all,” Thomas said.

The Rise of Cashless Payments with PESONet

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The rise of cashless payments is here with PESONet, a new electronic funds transfer service that enables customers of participating banks, e-money issuers or mobile money operators to transfer funds in Philippine Peso currency to another customer of other participating banks. 

PESONet,  seen as a catalyst to spur the rise of cash-less payments in the country, is the best payment method for bulk disbursements or payments.  It is the most convenient and efficient alternative to checks!

To encourage people and businesses to conduct their financial transactions digitally, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the payments industry launched PESONet late last year as the country’s first Automated Clearing House (ACH) under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS). 

PesoNet — an inter-bank Electronic Fund Transfer platform that can benefit companies that still transact using traditional cash or check payment systems to go electronic. 

With PesoNet, businesses can pay their suppliers, their bills, and even their employees electronically even across different banks and financial institutions. It also allows transfer of funds and other volume or bulk transactions among participating banks. 

Users can simply log on to the participating bank’s online or mobile banking platform, choose “PesoNet,” or Transfer to Other Bank, enter payment details, press send, and payment is sent to beneficiary’s account within the same day at full value.

Since its launch, response among financial institutions was encouraging. By end of July 2018, there were already 58 financial institutions that signed up as participants with 43 of them already receiving PESONet transactions. On the other hand, 22 institutions have already made PESONet available in their online and mobile phone channels.

So why switch to PESONet? 

There are many benefits that digitizing payments can bring to both businesses and individuals. According to a study by Better Than Cash Alliance entitled “The Future of Supply Chains: Why Companies Are Digitizing Payments,” real benefits “can be accrued not just by companies but also their employees, suppliers, distributors, and in many instances, the communities they work in,” by going digital with their payments. Among these are improved efficiency, increased revenue, greater transparency and security, and stronger business relationships. Specifically for the payees, they receive payments due them within the same day with no fees nor deductions. 

In the McKinsey Global Institute’s study “Digital Finance for All: Powering Inclusive Growth in Emerging Economies”, the Philippines’ share of digital payments is 2% of all payments. With PESONet now in place in the Philippines, the BSP hopes this will improve eyeing an increase to 20% in total electronic payment transactions by year 2020.

“PESONet remains part of the BSP’s commitment to harness the power and reach of the digital space to push the agenda of greater financial inclusion. The digital revolution underscores the importance of innovation and technology to ensure the delivery of financial products and services to a wider segment of society,” says BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. 

So far, the response from the financial sector such as the banks, a vital component for PESONet, is overwhelming. Not only was there an increase in the number of financial institutions that signed up with PESONet (total of 58 participants), the volume of transactions likewise increased. The Philippine Payments Management, Inc. (PPMI) reported that by end July  2018, a daily average of 39,000 PESONet transactions are processed. In terms of value, these transactions would be approximately PhP 3 billion per day. Compared to the same period last year, these grew by 27% in volume and 26% in value.

 “These figures show a vast improvement from batch or bulk funds transfer prior to PESONet, which is already very encouraging. We hope to see more financial institutions to start using PESONet, particularly thrift and rural banks, the non-bank electronic money issuers, and government corporations as PESONet customers and businesses using PESONet for disbursements as well as collections,” explains PPMI Chairman Justo A. Ortiz.

Among participating PESONet financial institutions include ANZ Bank, Bank of America, Bank of China, Citibank, CTBC Bank, Deutsche Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, Eastwest Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Maybank, MUFG Bank, Ltd, Mizuho Bank, PNB, PSBank, Robinsons Bank, Shinhan Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, UCPB, Unionbank and Yuanta Savings Bank.. 

After PESONet, the BSP and the payments industry offered more options for the consumers to shift to e-payments with the InstaPay. Compared to PESONet, which normally handles volume/bulk financial transactions, InstaPay transactions are done real time 24/7 through the internet and/or mobile banking channels of participating financial institutions limited to P50,000 per transaction and without limit on the number of transactions. Funds transferred through PESONet and InstaPay are received without deductions.

For more details about PESONet,  visit PESONet participating banks’ websites, www.pesonet.info or visit www.bsp.gov.ph.

Visa Launches interactive play “Lukot-lukot, Bilog-bilog” and uses National Heroes to provide Financial Education to young Filipinos

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International digital payment provider Visa launched Lukot-lukot, Bilog-bilog (Crumpled, Round), an interactive play featuring national heroes, developed with Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), the resident drama company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) designed to educate and empower the Filipino youth to make informed financial decisions. 

This is the first program of its kind launched by Visa in the Philippines in support of the government’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion spearheaded by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Lukot-lukot, Bilog-bilog will showcase common scenarios faced by a Filipina senior high school student protagonist named Gwyneth who is challenged to make decisions between her needs and wants. Native Filipino heroes such as Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini will also ‘come alive’ from the crumpled bills and rounded coins to help the main character make wise decisions.

Starting October, the show will be performed in close to 10 different schools to make financial literacy education more accessible to the students. This program is aligned with the government’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, in particular, the pillar on financial education and consumer protection. 

The launch also included a panel discussion on the importance of financial literacy in the Philippines, including panelists such as Dan Wolbert, Visa Philippines Head of Sales, Pia Roman-Tayug, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Head of Inclusive Finance Advocacy, Nanding Josef, Tanghalang Pilipino Artistic Director, and Patricia Feria-Lim, Teach for the Philippines Chief Strategy Officer.

“At Visa, we strongly believe in the importance of financial literacy and it is a key area of focus as part of our corporate social responsibility efforts. Hence, with the support of BSP, we created this financial literacy program and interactive play through Lukot-lukot, Bilog-bilog where the Filipino youth can relate to various scenarios on making money management decisions. With millennials forming a large population in the Philippines, we believe it is crucial to spread the knowledge of how to manage their money at a young age, and to highlight the importance of making smart monetary decisions,” said Stuart Tomlinson, Visa Country Manager for the Philippines and Guam. 

“We believe that financial education should be introduced to learners early on, especially key concepts including budgeting, investing, and setting financial goals. Innovative approach such as blending education and art are most welcome and can help the existing programs of the government. This is a tangible support from the private sector of the objectives of the NSFI, particularly the pillars on financial education and consumer protection,” says Pia. 

Nanding Josef, Tanghalang Pilipino Artistic Director

“The informative and interactive performances will stimulate creativity and challenge its audience on their perception of money,” says Nanding Josef, Tanghalang Pilipino Artistic Director. 

With the creative direction of TP, the play will spark critical thinking in these youths on the value of money. “By presenting economic concepts in realistic and entertaining situations, we hope that audiences will find it easier to apply their learnings in their daily lives,” added Nanding. 

Visa’s financial literacy initiative also aims to reach out to students under Teach for the Philippines, a program Visa has been actively involved with previously. 

"Experiential learning has been proven to be an effective method for encouraging mastery and understanding. At Teach for the Philippines, we believe that programs which incorporate financial literacy and theater arts in academics develop the critical life skills of our learners. We look forward to a continued partnership with Visa Philippines, BSP, and Tanghalang Pilipino to bring our learners closer to their full potential and enable them to contribute meaningfully to nation building," said Patricia. 

“We want to secure the future of the Filipino youth and are committed to forging the path to financial literacy and inclusion. We envision the program to reach more students throughout the country in the coming years,” added Stu.

For more updates and information, visit www.visa.com.ph , http://visaapnews.asia/ and @VisaNews

BSP phasing out old bills, Replacement Process of Old Banknotes (New Design Series, NDS) with New Generation Currency Banknotes

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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is phasing out old banknotes or New Design Series bills starting new year.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo announced that the demonetization of old banknotes will start on Jan. 1, 2015 to preserve the integrity of the Philippine peso as well as to benchmark with other countries' central banks practice of demonetizing banknotes every ten years to prevent counterfeiting.

Guinigundo said the move is in line with the provisions of Section 57 of Republic Act No. 7653, or the New Central Bank Act, that authorizes BSP to replace banknotes that are more than five years old. The NDS banknotes have been in circulation for almost three decades, he said.

These NDS that will be phased out include old 20-peso bill; 50-peso bill; 100-peso bill; 200-peso bill; 500-peso bill; and one thousand-peso bill.

The NDS banknotes have been in circulation for almost 3 decades:

Demonetizing NDS will result in the circulation of a single currency series in the country – the New Generation Currency (NGC) series.

Issued on December 16, 2010, the NGC banknotes are using new and enhanced security features to help thwart counterfeiting.

The two old designs of 10-peso bill bearing the face of Apolinario Mabini alone and Mabini together with Andres Bonifacio as well as the five-peso-Emilio-Aguinaldo-design bill are included in the demonetization. These three old banknote designs have no formal demonetization in the past years even they were replaced with new 10-peso and five-peso coins.

The NDS bills that will be demonetized are set to replace with the New Generation Currency or the latest designs of paper money introduced by the BSP in December 2010.

The central bank official said the public may continue to use the old banknotes until December 31, 2015 in paying and buying of goods and services and other business or financial transactions requiring the use of cash.

By Jan. 1, 2016, old banknotes can no longer be used in day-to-day transactions. However, from the said date up to Dec. 31, 2016 the public may exchange the NDS for NGC with authorized financial institutions such as universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, and cooperative banks or with the BSP at full face value and without charge.

Guinigundo also said that for overseas Filipinos, who have NDS banknotes which could not be exchanged within the prescribed period, they may register from October 1, 2015 until December 31, 2015 through the BSP website. The NDS banknotes may be exchanged with the BSP within one year from date of registration.

By January 1, 2017, the old banknotes will no longer have monetary value and will be considered demonetized.

Guinigundo said that there are 729 pieces of old banknotes or about P192 billion to be demonetized. These are 25 percent of the total volume and 26 percent of the total value in the circulation.

The demonetization of NDS will result in the circulation of a single currency series in the country -- the NGC series.

The BSP had stopped the production of old banknotes since last year.

BSP Announces the Replacement Process of Old Banknotes (New Design Series, NDS) with New Generation Currency Banknotes 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announces today the start of the demonetization process on 1 January 2015 for the old banknotes (New Design Series, NDS) as part of its objective to preserve the integrity of Philippine currency. This move is in line with the provisions of Section 57 of Republic Act No. 7653, otherwise known as the New Central Bank Act, which authorizes the BSP to replace banknotes that are more than 5 years old. The NDS banknotes have been in circulation for almost three decades .

The public is advised of the following important information:

* The public may continue to use the NDS banknotes up to 31 December 2015 in paying and buying of goods and services and other business or financial transactions requiring the use of cash. Thereafter, the NDS banknotes will no longer be accepted for payment transactions;

* From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016, the public may exchange with authorized financial institutions, namely universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, and rural as well as cooperative banks, their NDS banknotes with the New Generation Currency (NGC) Series at full face value, without charge. The public may also opt to exchange NDS banknotes with the BSP or any of its regional offices/branches around the Philippines ; 

* Government institutions holding in trust NDS series which could not be exchanged during the prescribed period, such as banknotes used as evidence in a litigation case, will have to request the BSP Cash Department in writing, within the period of exchange, for a special exchange arrangement;

* For Overseas Filipinos (OFs) abroad, who have in their possession NDS banknotes which could not be exchanged within the prescribed period, they may register online starting 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2015 through the BSP Website. These NDS banknotes may be exchanged with the BSP within one (1) year from date of registration; and

* Starting 1 January 2017, NDS banknotes that have not been exchanged shall no longer have any monetary value, and are considered demonetized. 

* The demonetization of the NDS will result in the circulation of a single currency series in the country – the NGC Series. The NGC banknotes which were issued on 16 December 2010 use new and enhanced security features to protect the safety of the public against counterfeiters. 

www.bsp.gov.ph