BSP Tests Project Agila for 24/7 Fund Transfers

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and participating financial institutions have completed testing for Project Agila, enabling round-the-clock fund transfers, including during evenings, weekends, and holidays.

These transactions are supported securely through open-source distributed ledger technology using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Project Agila serves as a proof-of-concept for the BSP’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) at the wholesale level. The testing process included functional, performance, security, exploratory, end-to-end, and programmability assessments.

“Wholesale CBDCs are expected to enhance liquidity management, reduce settlement risks, and support financial stability,” BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. said.

Insights from the project will inform the BSP’s CBDC roadmap, with the goal of leveraging new technologies to improve the efficiency and resilience of the national payment system, according to Remolona.

CBDCs are digital currencies denominated in the national unit of account and are direct liabilities of the central bank. Wholesale CBDCs are designed for use by commercial banks and financial institutions for interbank payments, securities transactions, and cross-border payments.

Project Agila aims to help the BSP and financial institutions evaluate the potential of CBDCs to enhance the country’s large-value payment system.