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There are basically two types of electronic money in the Philippines, each one with its own set of arrangements.
1. Prepaid cards, also called stored value cards, have been issued by banks for some time now as one of their electronic banking products. The cards are loaded with electronic value upon exchange of an equivalent value of bills and coins. You can either load the value over the counter (i.e., the bank tellers), or have the value transferred from a deposit account.
2. Electronic wallets
, in contrast to prepaid cards, are usually "inside" a cellular phone, or specifically the SIM. In the same way, value can be loaded via over the counter transactions or a transfer from one e-wallet to another (also called P2P or phone-to-phone transfers). E-wallets are usually issued by a non-bank company, or by a bank in partnership with a non-bank company, like a telecommunications company.
In both cases, the record of the value is actually stored not in the card or the SIM, but in a database managed by the issuer. This is because of the requirement of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the central bank of the Philippines), for issuers to have a system that can track balances and usage of each of the e-money holders that subscribe to them.
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Related Topics:
What is E-Money?
More E-Money
I'm off to Bacolod on Monday to give a short presentation about electronic money. And I thought I'd get myself all primed up by posting a bit on what I will be sharing there. I provided a short perspective about e-money in the Philippines in my previous post here, and now I would like to start going deeper into the subject by defining what is considered e-money in the Philippines.
E-money in the Philippines is defined as monetary value that is:
1. Stored in an electronic device or instrument; and
2. Issued in exchange for an equal amount of cash (or sometimes less, if there are charges involved, but greater than the amount received); and
3. Acceptable as a means of payment to the issuer and other merchants; and
4. Withdrawable in cash and other cash forms; and
5. Have complied with the requirements of Circular 649 of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which is the Philippine central bank.
What are the implications of this definition? If you are an issuer (meaning, you accept cash in exchange for e-money), then you must ensure that the e-money you are issuing complies with BSP guidelines.
On the other hand, if you are an e-money holder (you've exchanged your cash for e-money), then you should be aware of the various features of the e-money that you have, including those that the BSP required for certain reasons.
Next time, we'll discuss some of the types of e-money. Do leave your comments and questions to liven up the discussion.
Wish me well on my presentation!
The use of electronic means of payments in the Philippines has been around for quite a while, and it has even gained the attention of The Economist magazine - click HERE for the article A Bank In Every Pocket?. If you can't see the article, you can sign up for a free 14-day subscription that will allow you access to the article and other archives.
In my case, I was fortunate to be able to travel to Chennai, India as a resource speaker to discuss the use of mobile banking technologies for microfinance operations, as part of the International Development Law Organization's (IDLO) series of workshops.
What is common with these electronic modes of payment is the convenience and speed that it can provide to the user. The term branchless banking has been used loosely to describe these payments methods, since it allows an individual to conduct transactions that can normally be performed by an individual with a bank account. Since some of these instruments did not originate from or issued by banks, the term mobile commerce or m-commerce is being used to describe it more appropriately.
For its part, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the Philippine central bank) has issued Circular No. 649 in 2009, as the primary regulation to govern the issuance of electronic money and the operations of electronic money issuers.
Related Posts:
E-Money in the Philippines: Introduction
What is E-Money?
Types of E-Money
1. Prepaid cards, also called stored value cards, have been issued by banks for some time now as one of their electronic banking products. The cards are loaded with electronic value upon exchange of an equivalent value of bills and coins. You can either load the value over the counter (i.e., the bank tellers), or have the value transferred from a deposit account. 
, in contrast to prepaid cards, are usually "inside" a cellular phone, or specifically the SIM. In the same way, value can be loaded via over the counter transactions or a transfer from one e-wallet to another (also called P2P or phone-to-phone transfers). E-wallets are usually issued by a non-bank company, or by a bank in partnership with a non-bank company, like a telecommunications company.
