Next generation PhilPaSSplus now on live run

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said PhilPaSS^plus, the country’s next-generation PESO real-time gross settlement system (RTGS), is now on live run.

“Equipped with advanced features, PhilPaSS^plus is a key milestone in our continuing efforts to have an efficient, secure and inclusive digital settlement platform for both large value and retail payments,” explained BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno.

PhilPaSS^plus can settle higher volumes of payment instructions at faster speed compared with the RTGS system that the BSP has decommissioned.

By accepting only the globally prescribed ISO 20022 payment messaging standard, PhilPaSS^plus enables the country to integrate with both domestic and cross-border payment ecosystems.  The new-generation RTGS also provides more access channels for participating institutions, stronger security features and richer payment information.

PhilPaSS^plus forms part of the BSP’s digital transformation initiatives, which entail leveraging on emerging technologies to expedite payment services that have become a necessity in these extraordinary times.

The project has come to completion with the support of the participants of the RTGS system and their respective associations. More than 170 financial institutions (FIs) use the BSP-operated PhilPaSS^plus to settle their clients’ ATM, InstaPay, PESONet, and check transactions.  These FIs are mostly banks.

By facilitating the movement of money through digital fund transfers, the PhilPaSS^plus is vital to the smooth functioning of the financial system and to upholding public interest.

An RTGS is a large-value payment system that enables the transfer of funds between banks on a real-time basis. It is a payment system which is now being offered by most commercial and thrift banks to their clients as alternative to check payments. On the other hand, a payment system is a mechanism composed of rules, institutions, people, markets and organizations that make exchanges of payments possible.