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WHAT IS PESONET ACH? WHO WILL BE THE CLEARING SWITCH OPERATOR (CSO) FOR PESONET?

PESONet ACH stands for the Philippine EFT System and Operations Network Automated Clearing The Philippine Clearing House Corporation (PCHC) is the designated CSO for PESONet for a two-
House and is a Batch Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) Credit ACH. The PESONet ACH sets the year transitory period beginning from the time of PESONet’s launch.
clearing and settlement rules to facilitate fund transfer from one (1) account (payer) to one or
several accounts (payee/s) maintained in different Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Bangko Sentral)’ What are the changes expected under PESONet ACH?
Supervised Financial Institutions (BSFIs). Under the rules, the fund transfer and/or payment
instructions will be processed in bulk and cleared at batch intervals. Each payee will then receive PESONet will introduce a new facility that enables existing accountholders of BSFIs participating
the full value in their account within the same banking day, provided the payment instruction was in PESONet to make electronic account-to-account fund transfer. It will also bring about the
sent within the cut-off time set in the ACH and the clearing rules. following:

WHAT ARE THE KEY FEATURES OF PESONET? 1. Multiple clearing and settlement cycles within the day. This will allow receipt of funds transferred
to beneficiary’s account within the same banking day, provided the payment instruction was sent
1. Settle before clear and availability of funds after clearing cycle within the cut-off time set in the ACH and clearing rules;
2. Better management of settlement risk with the adoption of the “settle before clear” process. This
Settlement risk is managed as settlement of netting results through the Demand Deposit Account means that funds are settled among the participants before transactions are cleared and before
(DDA) maintained with the Bangko Sentral needs to be successful for all participants for each funds are made available to beneficiaries;
batch prior to releasing the inward clearing file to the receiving institutions (RIs). 3. Greater availability of EFT capability in electronic delivery channels in compliance with regulatory
requirements. This means that EFT features will be more accessible to end-users; and
It is only upon receipt of the inward clearing file from the Clearing Switch Operator (CSO) that RIs 4. Full receipt of the amount as the recipient shall not pay for electronic crediting to the recipient’s
will be able to initiate crediting to the beneficiary. account.

2. Multiple clearing and settlement cycles within the day and clearing at batch intervals HOW DOES THE BANGKO SENTRAL SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PESONET ACH?

Multiple clearing and settlement cycles within the day allows for timelier crediting of funds to the The Bangko Sentral issued the Circular on the adoption of the NRPS framework. This Circular
beneficiary account by RIs. The CSO will release the inward clearing file to the RI once the cycle is contains policies that will support the following positive changes on the account-to-account
complete independent of the other cycles. Thus, credit to the beneficiaries may already be initiated electronic fund transfer environment under the PESONet ACH, including the following:
within the day.
1. The beneficiary will not pay for the electronic crediting made by the RI to the beneficiary’s account;
At the initial stages of PESONet, the Bangko Sentral and the industry agreed to limit clearing 2. Availability of PESONet service facility in the participant’s electronic delivery channels, whenever
and settlement cycle to just once per day. Prospectively, as the processes mature, clearing and applicable; and
settlement cycles may be as frequent as the industry requires. Frequency and timing will be based 3. Faster and more convenient electronic payments facilitated by straight through processing
on the collective agreement among the ACH participants and may be driven by factors like uptake (STP).
in usage of PESONet, and changes in consumer behavior/needs relative to making payments.
Moreover, the Bangko Sentral has been closely working with PCHC, as the CSO, and the industry
3. Settlement through the real time gross settlement system operated by Bangko Sentral to ensure readiness in the operationalization of multiple clearing and settlement cycles within the
day, which will be useful not only for PESONet ACH but for other prospective ACHs as well.
Settlement will be through the real time gross settlement (RTGS) system operated by the Bangko
Sentral using funds in the participant’s DDA maintained in the Bangko Sentral. HOW CAN A BSFI JOIN THE PESONET ACH?

WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTIVE USE CASES FOR PESONET? BSFIs may participate in the PESONet ACH either as a direct or indirect clearing participant, with
the latter dependent on the BSFI sponsoring them into clearing being a direct clearing participant
PESONet supports payments that are recurring and may be used by individuals, businesses and of the PESONet ACH.
government depending on how it will be made available by the various BSFIs via their electronic
channels. BSFIs that meet the criteria set to be a direct clearing participant may approach representatives of
the Philippine Payments Management, Inc (PPMI) or the PESONet ACH technical working group
Initially, it has the potential to be a viable alternative to checks and may be used to facilitate for details on how to join.
payment for salary and benefits, government collections and disbursements, payment to suppliers
(e.g., for purchase of goods and services), bills payments or other non-time critical transactions. In case a BSFI is not qualified to be a direct clearing participant, it can opt to be sponsored into
clearing by a qualified participant. Such arrangement is referred to as “indirect clearing” where
both clearing and settlement are done on behalf of said BSFI by the qualified participant. The
sponsoring entity is accountable for the compliance of the sponsored participant with the PSMB
and ACH rules.