TL;DR: Digital payments and digital wallets continue to expand across markets, with the Philippines’ InstaPay and PESONet transactions surpassing PHP22 trillion ($350.89 billion) in the first eight months of 2026, while Europe moves toward EUDI Wallet rollout despite uneven readiness. In the U.S., PYMNTS found that 47% of shoppers abandoned carts due to missing digital payment options.
Key Takeaways:
The Philippines’ digital payments surpassed PHP 22 trillion in August
Digital payments have continued to expand in the Philippines in the first eight months of 2026, with transactions from two major electronic fund transfer systems surpassing PHP 22 trillion ($350.89 billion), The Manila Times reported on September 21.
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank, the combined transaction value reached PHP 22.12 trillion from January to August 2026, up 44.72% from PHP 15.29 trillion ($243 billion) during the same months in 2025.
The two payment systems—InstaPay and PESONet—processed a total of 5.77 billion transactions in the first eight months, up 141.79% from the 2.39 billion transactions recorded last year.
The BSP said InstaPay accounted for most of the transactions, reaching 5.68 billion, up to 145.96% from the 2.31 billion transactions recorded last year. The value also climbed to PHP 11.08 trillion ($176 billion), having 59.9% increase from PHP 6.93 trillion ($110 billion) a year earlier.
In August alone, the BSP stated that InstaPay and PESONet processed 791.22 million transactions worth PHP 2.96 trillion ($47 billion). This increased by 2.33% from July’s 773.19 million transactions; however, the combined transaction value declined by 3.58% to PHP 3.07 trillion ($48 billion) from July.
By August this year, InstaPay transaction volume increased 2.59% to 780.56 million, up from 760.85 million in July. InstaPay’s value rose to 2.47% to PHP 1.57 trillion ($25 billion) from PHP 1.53 trillion ($24 billion). Year on year, volume jumped 83.44%, while transaction value grew 57.40%.
On the other hand, PESONet saw both transaction volume and value decline in August this year. Volume fell 13.61% month on month to 10.66 million transactions from 12.34 million, while transaction value dropeed 9.59% to PHP 1.39 trillion ($22 billion) from PHP 1.54 trillion ($24 billion).
The central bank also stated that digital payments accounted for 64.7% of total retail payment transactions last year, up from 57.4% in 2024 and approaching the 60 – 70% goal the bank set for 2028.
In July this year, the central bank and Malacañang—the official residence and primary workplace of the country’s president—urged financial institutions to reduce or eliminate digital financial transfer fees, which may have contributed to the increase in digital payment transactions.
EUDI: Digital ID wallet deadlines collide with expanding use cases
Meanwhile in Europe, EU Digital Identity Wallets (EUDI) are at different stages of readiness, Biometric Update reported on September 19.
According to Biometric Update, EUDI Wallet deadlines are met with uneven readiness—despite promising use cases—due to age restrictions on social media and the long-awaited “pints at the pub with digital ID” in the U.K.
Last week, Germany unveiled its national EUDI Wallet implementation called “d-you.” It is scheduled for a January 2, 2027 launch alongside around 40 partners. D-You wallets are expected to store various public documents and identity, including national ID data, mDLs, and other digital credentials.
Meanwhile, Cyprus has opened a bidding process for a 9.8 million-euro ($11.3 million) contract to improve its public service app and integrate it with EUDI Wallet.
Four banks in Moldova now accept credentials from the country’s digital identity wallet, EVO. Moldova, an EU candidate nation, has reportedly been advancing in alignment with the EUDI Wallet framework and has already completed interoperability testing for the European PID and ISO mDL formats.
Amid the positive outlook, Thomas Lohninger, executive director of Austrian digital rights group epicenter.works and a board member of European Digital Rights (EDRi), revealed that less than half, or 40% of the standards needed for the EUDI Wallets are not yet ready.
“We are at maybe 50-60% of the technical standards that are needed to build this wallet. The other 40% are not there yet. They do not exist,” he told Euronews.
Recently, the EU Commission released a multilayered proposal to restrict social media access by age. Under the KIDS Act, age assurance would now be required at both the app store and platform levels, potentially increasing use of EUDI Wallets, the EU’s age-verification app, third-party verification providers, or facial age-estimation tools.
47% of shoppers wanted digital wallet option: PYMNTS
A recent PYMNTS Intelligence report titled “The Hidden Cost of Checkout Gaps: What 56 Million Abandoned Carts Mean for U.S. Merchants and How Agentic AI Is Changing What Comes Next,” found that 21% of U.S. consumers, or 56 million shoppers in September, are already abandoning their online carts as their preferred payment method wasn’t available.
According to PYMNTs, digital wallets accounted for the largest share of that missed business since around 26.3 million consumers, or 47%, wanted to use them. Apart from that, they found that 36% of Gen Z consumers abandoned a cart due to a missing payment method, higher than 31% for millennials, 15% for Generation X, and 8% for baby boomers and seniors.
“A missing wallet can send the sale elsewhere, as 33% of digital wallet users said they would have delayed a purchase, switched merchants or skipped it if their wallet hadn’t been accepted. Nearly half of Gen Z retail wallet users would have changed merchants or abandoned the transaction. Checkout is the last handoff in a relay, and a missing payment option can drop the baton just before the finish,” it explained.
The report found that 87 million U.S. consumers—about one-third of U.S. shoppers—had used a digital wallet for online purchases in the previous 30 days. Adoption was highest among Gen Z at 47%, which was followed by millennials at 44%. This growing use of digital wallets may give merchants a path to recover sales now and prepare for automated shopping later, PYMNTS said.
Lastly, PYMNTS also revealed that 52% of wallet users said they would likely connect a digital wallet to an AI agent within two years, compared with 39% of nonusers.
“Consumers showed the most interest when they could approve purchases, set spending limits and control which payment sources an agent uses. Merchants that broaden wallet acceptance and preserve those controls can reduce today’s checkout losses while building a stronger foundation for the next stage of digital commerce,” PYMNTS said.
FAQs:
How much did Philippine digital payments reach in 2026?
InstaPay and PESONet reached PHP22.12 trillion ($350.89 billion) in transaction value from January to August 2026, up 44.72% from the same period in 2025.
How did InstaPay and PESONet perform in August?
InstaPay processed 780.56 million transactions worth PHP1.57 trillion ($25 billion), while PESONet handled 10.66 million transactions worth PHP1.39 trillion ($22 billion).
What are InstaPay and PESONet?
InstaPay enables near-real-time fund transfers, while PESONet handles batch electronic transfers in the Philippines.
When will Germany launch its EUDI Wallet?
Germany plans to launch its national EUDI Wallet, called d-you, on January 2, 2027, in partnership with around 40 organizations.
How many shoppers wanted digital wallets?
PYMNTS found that 47% of U.S. shoppers who abandoned carts because of missing payment options wanted to use a digital wallet.
What is EUDI?
EUDI Wallet, or the European Digital Identity Wallet, is a government-backed mobile application that allows EU citizens and businesses to securely store, share, and verify digital ID credentials and official documents across all EU member states.
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