Wise, the fintech focused on money transfer, has been granted direct access to the Philippines’ real-time payment system, InstaPay, enabling it to enhance the cross-border payment experience for around 13 million of its customers.
Wise is now also able to directly settle with the central bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) real-time gross payment system, PhilPaSS Plus.
Alongside enhancing the service it offers millions of its own customers, the move also benefits millions more users of some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions, such as Bank Mandiri, which offer their customers international payments through Wise Platform.
With over 65 licenses globally and now six direct connections to domestic payment systems, Wise’s infrastructure alternative to traditional correspondent banking enables over 63 per cent of all Wise transactions to be completed instantly (under 20 seconds), with an average fee of 0.62 per cent.
Areson Cuevas, country manager for Wise Philippines
Areson Cuevas, country manager for Wise Philippines, said: “Six months after launching the Wise account and prepaid card in the Philippines, we’re excited to be directly connected to InstaPay and to directly settle with PhilPaSSPlus.
“This milestone, following our successful direct integrations into five other payment systems worldwide, marks a significant step forward in our mission to make international payments faster, cheaper, and more convenient for our Filipino customers, and our Wise Platform partners.”
Following the news, Wise customers across the globe, can send up to 50,000 PHP (InstaPay’s limit) to the Philippines instantly. Customers are able to send larger sums, and while these won’t be processed via InstaPay, Wise says that 94 per cent of all transactions will arrive in 24 hours.
Wise customers located in the Philippines moving funds from their Wise account to their local banks or e-wallets will also see the money arriving in under 20 seconds.
Enhancing cross-border payments globally
Now that Wise has been granted access to InstaPay, Filipino customers can now quickly fund their Wise account and Wise card transactions conveniently via bank transfers or e-wallets. This feature broadens access to the Wise Account, making it even easier for people to send and spend globally with Wise’s competitive exchange rate and low fees.
Wise has continued to invest in building direct connections to payment systems starting with the UK in 2018 where Wise was the first non-bank to connect to the Faster Payment System (FPS). That set the precedent for Wise to be granted direct access to payment systems in the EU in 2020, as well as Singapore and Australia in 2021.
Last month, Wise also received approval to join Japan’s domestic payment network, Zengin, and secured a Payment Institution licence to connect directly to Brazil’s instant payment system PIX.
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