By Joann Santiago
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will regulate pawnshops more stringent now as these entities start serving as
remittance platforms.
In a briefing, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said pawnshops are now catering to the public’s
money transfer requirements as these entities now offer remittance services.
To date, the central bank loosely regulates pawnshops since these are under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
There are about 9,000 banks in the country but
pawnshops number to about 19,500.
Espenilla said there are municipalities in the country that are still not catered by banks and pawnshops along with drugstores among others but serve as alternative remittances centers.
He said pawnshops dominate the money transfer market while payments centers along with banks are the major players in the bills payment service.
Over 1,000 entities including drugstores have been tapped by a bank for its mobile banking service, he said.
The central bank official said it is the poor who are served greatly by the pawnshops for their remittance requirements because this group is normally the unbanked members of the population.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=52420.0
