The two largest automated teller machine (ATM) networks in the country formalized their consolidation on Friday under the umbrella of the Bankers’ Association of the Philippines.
BancNet and Megalink signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Friday finalizing their fusion—a decision long awaited after much discussion and revisions on the details of the marriage.
In the MOA signing, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the merger of the networks marked a “milestone” in the banking community and highlights the need to build a single payments system in the country in the future.
“In particular, this coming together of our ATMs under a single network is an important first step toward an efficient and inclusive retail payment system. Nevertheless, while we celebrate this milestone today, we realize that this is just the beginning,” BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said.
Earlier at the annual bankers’ reception where he announced the consolidation of BancNet and Megalink, the central bank governor said the main goal was to build a highway for all the retail payments and settlement systems in the country to push toward cashless transactions.
“Our next step is to collaborate on how to best implement not only the merger of ATM and POS, or point-of-sales operations, but the overall integration of our payments system,” Tetangco reiterated in the MOA signing.
All these, the governor said, are critical ingredients in preparing the banking industry for a more integrated Asean Economic Community.
Tetangco also said even as banks move to a more efficient ATM network system, they must also focus on establishing well-defined rules and policies, upgrade current arrangements to enable the participation of payment service providers including non-banks, and have the customers in mind as they provide users with transparency, certainly and reliability.
“These are the critical steps in this journey; which will surely lead us to a destination that will benefit all—a truly inclusive and efficient national retail payment system that promotes electronic payments in the country,” Tetangco said.