Digital Payments: Origin, Emergence, and Impact

On September 21, 2021, the Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (NordCham Philippines) hosted the event entitled “The Era of Digital Payments” in which Mr. Carlo Bass Nazareno, Head of Cash Management Services of BDO Unibank Inc., was the main speaker. 

Mr. Nazareno shared landmark perspectives on Digital Payments that made an impactful influence on his audience. During his talk, he highlighted three important views: global trends, regional trends, and digital payments in the Philippines. 

Global trends focused more on the customers’ activities and how we can develop better, quicker, more efficient, and secure ways of moving their payments. More countries are investing in real-time payments, open finance/open banking, and future global developments. 

Regional trend sets the standard on the information that flows, putting regulations on how payments should operate. Payment Services Directive (PSD and PSD2) introduced a single standard for payments and introduced open banking and third-party providers for cross-border and domestically. 

Lastly, the Digital Payments in the Philippines show remarkable landmark developments by adopting the BSP Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, Financial Services Initiatives, Open Finance Framework, and Digital Banking Licensing. 

He concluded his presentation by looking at the future lens of digital payment, which is the need for an individual to understand its ecosystems, connect with experts and professionals in understanding the developments in the financial industry, and short- and long-term planning. 

Indeed, the impact of the COVID-19 changed the perspective of a lot of people and businesses. But as Mr. Nazareno have said, “adapt to this change to operate differently and look at everybody that you are involved with to understand whether there’s a better way of doing things.”