BancNet is a Philippine-based interbank network connecting the ATM networks of local and offshore banks, and the largest interbank network in the Philippines in terms of the number of member banks and annual transactions. It is also designated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as the country's national ATM network. BancNet is also the exclusive gateway of China's UnionPay, allowing access to the nearly 1 billion ATM cardholders from China. BancNet is allied with global payment brand JCB International. Through this alliance, JCB cardholders can now do cash advances at participating BancNet member ATMs nationwide. Bancnet interconnects with international card networks Diners Club, Discover Card, KFTC, MasterCard, and VISA. BancNet serves more than 41 million ATM cardholders of its 114 members and affiliates with over 12,000 ATMs and more than 5,000 POS terminals. In 2008, Expressnet outsourced its ATM operations to BancNet. On January 30, 2015, BancNet and MegaLink announced their merger and will retain itself as its brand.
History
BancNet was founded on July 17, 1990 as the Philippines' second ATM consortium when the ATMs of eight banks, PCI Bank, Security Bank, Chinabank, RCBC, Allied Bank, Metrobank, International Exchange Bank and CityTrust Banking Corp. formed BancNet. Other members have since joined. In 1994, BancNet introduced the a point-of-sale system to serve the retail payment requirements of cardholders. In 1997, BancNet started offering website hosting, email and surfing services to member banks at affordable rates. In 2002, BancNet started its online banking and payment gateway system. It was during the anniversary business forum of 2002 that BancNet introduced Interbank Funds Transfer, reportedly the first consortium-run automated transfer facility in the region. The product allows real-time, online transfer of money among the members of BancNet using either the payment gateway, the ATM or a cardholder's cellular phone. A partnership with Globe Telecom, the second largest telecoms company in the Philippines, in 2006 allowed BancNet to expand ATM-like functions to the mobile phones of cardholders. This was followed by a similar agreement in early 2007 with Smart Communications, the dominant telecoms company, for mobile banking. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed in 2007 with Nationlink, admitting the latter as the first network alliance member of BancNet. This allows all the rural bank members of Nationlink to enjoy the convenience of electronic banking on 8,000 ATMs and more than 10,000 Point-of-Sale terminals nationwide.
InstaPay
BancNet is the designated clearing switch operator of InstaPay, one of the two major electronic fund transfer services commissioned by the BSP. Created in 2017, it was indirectly created out of the decommissioning of MegaLink. For a fee of PHP10 per transaction, clients of BancNet member banks can initiate fund transfer services between each other with real-time crediting.
