InstaPay Fees Fall Under a New BSP Pricing Mandate

A new BSP pricing rule pushed GCash, Maya, BPI, and RCBC to move on fees in the same week, but their four responses expose very different levels of margin room.

The Bottom Line

• BSP Circular No. 1238, effective July 4, 2026, requires that interbank transfer fees reflect only the actual switch cost over on-us pricing, which for InstaPay works out to roughly P1.50, not the P10 to P15 range that has stood for years.
• GCash and Maya cut their outbound InstaPay fees to P10, a rate still six to seven times above the switch cost benchmark the BSP itself laid out, which reads less like compliance and more like the floor of what protects their margin.
• BPI zeroed out InstaPay and PESONet fees entirely, and RCBC now offers 30 free InstaPay transfers a month through Pulz plus unlimited free transfers through DiskarTech, showing a materially different cushion behind two ostensibly similar moves.
• The timing was not coincidental. The Monetary Board first lifted a years-long moratorium on transfer fee changes, then paired that with a requirement that any fee institutions want to keep has to be justified against actual processing cost.
• With P10 still well above the BSP’s own benchmark, this is unlikely to be the final number. Expect more downward movement on InstaPay fees rather than a settled price point.

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A Regulatory Deadline, Not a Market Gesture

Four of the country’s largest financial platforms adjusted their transfer pricing within the same seven day window in early July 2026. GCash cut its outbound InstaPay fee from P15 to P10. Maya matched it. BPI eliminated its InstaPay and PESONet fees outright. RCBC introduced a free tier through its Pulz and DiskarTech apps. Coverage across most outlets framed this as banks and e-wallets competing to win over cost-conscious users.

That framing understates what actually happened. All four moves trace back to a single regulatory trigger. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had maintained a moratorium on electronic transfer fee changes since the pandemic. Once that moratorium lifted, the central bank issued Circular No. 1238, which took effect July 4 and requires BSP-supervised institutions, banks, e-wallets, and other payment providers alike, to adopt what the circular calls a reasonable and fair market-based pricing mechanism for electronic fund transfers.

What BSP Circular 1238 Actually Requires

The substance of the rule is specific. BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan explained the logic directly: if a same-institution transfer is free, an interbank transfer through the same institution should generally cost only the switch fee, the actual cost of routing the transaction through the interbank network. For InstaPay, that switch fee runs about P1.50. Institutions had until July 4 to bring their pricing in line with that principle or be prepared to justify why it costs more.

This is the detail that gets lost in most coverage of the fee cuts. The circular does not simply encourage lower fees. It sets a specific ceiling on the gap between what an institution charges for internal transfers versus interbank ones, and puts the burden of justification on the institution charging more.

GCash and Maya Land on P10, Still Above the Benchmark

GCash’s compliance move was a flat cut from P15 to P10 per InstaPay transaction, with no minimum transfer amount and a P50,000 cap per transaction, effective July 4. Maya made the identical adjustment, also from P15 to P10, though its version takes effect July 6. Both wallets keep their own internal transfers free under existing terms. GCash still allows 500 free sends and 500 free receives between GCash accounts per month before a P5 fee applies, a fee GCash describes as applying only to select power users without detailing who qualifies. Maya-to-Maya transfers and PESONet transfers on Maya remain free as well.

P10 is a real reduction from P15, but it sits well above the roughly P1.50 switch cost the BSP outlined as the fair benchmark for InstaPay. That gap matters for how this should be read. GCash and Maya did not reprice down to what Circular 1238 describes as cost-reflective. They repriced down to a number that still protects a meaningful margin while satisfying the letter of a compliance deadline. For two platforms with the transaction volume GCash and Maya carry, a few pesos per transfer scales into significant recurring revenue, which is likely why neither followed BPI and RCBC toward zero.

BPI and RCBC Show What Full Compliance Looks Like

BPI took the more aggressive route, permanently waiving both InstaPay and PESONet fees across its app, online banking platform, VYBE, BanKo, and BizKo starting July 1, ahead of the circular’s own deadline. BPI framed the move around its 175th anniversary and financial inclusion goals, and it affects more than 9.5 million enrolled users. As a universal bank with deposit-taking and lending revenue well beyond transfer fees, BPI has more room to treat InstaPay pricing as a customer acquisition tool rather than a revenue line.

RCBC’s version, effective July 4, is more conditional but still closer to the BSP’s intent than GCash or Maya’s. Through the Pulz app, RCBC waives fees for the first 30 InstaPay transfers per month provided each transfer is at least P100, charging the standard P10 fee once a customer exceeds that limit or transfers below the minimum. Through its DiskarTech app, RCBC removed the cap entirely, offering unlimited free InstaPay transfers with no minimum amount. RCBC president and CEO Reggie Cariaso tied the move to accelerating digital banking adoption rather than defending a fee line.

Why P10 Is Unlikely to Be the Final Number

The gap between what GCash and Maya now charge and what the BSP defines as cost-reflective pricing leaves both exposed to further scrutiny. Circular 1238 puts the justification burden on the institution charging above switch cost, and P10 is not a small markup over P1.50. If the BSP intends to enforce the spirit of the rule rather than just the compliance deadline, GCash and Maya’s current pricing looks like a negotiating position, not a resting point. Institutions that treat this as a one-time adjustment risk having to reprice again if the central bank pushes further, and given the direction of BSP policy since the moratorium lifted, that pressure is more likely to build than fade.

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