BSP launches coin deposit machines

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and its partner retailers on Tuesday officially launched three coin deposit machines (CoDM), with six more set to be deployed in the next few days, in a bid to encourage the public to make use of their idle coins.

The CoDMs allow the public to deposit all denominations of the BSP Coin Series and the New Generation Currency Coin Series launched in 2018, ranging from a centavo to as high as P20.

The deposits will then be reflected in electronic wallets, with GCash—operated by GXchange Inc.—as the initial partner. The BSP is also working to onboard electronic money issuer Maya onto the platform.

The central bank said that among the initial CoDMs that have gone live is in the SM Mall of Asia, Pasay in collaboration with SM Retail Inc., where customers can choose to redeem the value of their deposited coins in the form of SM shopping vouchers.

The two other CoDMs that have gone live are in Robinsons Place Ermita, Manila in collaboration with Robinsons Supermarket Corporation, and in the Festival Supermall in Muntinlupa in collaboration with Filinvest Lifemalls Corporation.

Six more machines are set to be deployed in select locations across the Greater Manila Area in the coming days, but details have yet to be made available.

“Through the CoDM project, the BSP encourages the public to deposit their idle coins stored in their jars, piggy banks, and other containers in accessible, convenient, and efficient coin exchange facilities in participating malls,” the BSP said.

In January 2021 then-BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno—now current Finance Secretary—said the Philippines is expected to be a coinless society by 2025, as small transactions would then be done through quick response (QR) codes.

The BSP has also mandated the adoption of QR Ph, or the country’s QR code standard based on the Europay-Mastercard-VISA (EMV) standard, a global standard for secure payments. QR Ph is expected to be fully adopted by July 1, 2023. — BM, GMA Integrated News