BDO upgrades payment infrastructure with Finastra’s Global PAYplus

By Divya Shah

BDO Unibank has enhanced its payments infrastructure by deploying Finastra’s Global PAYplus (GPP) platform, strengthening its ability to manage rising transaction volumes, improve operational efficiency and support future payments innovation. 

As a commercial bank in the Philippines, BDO serves retail, commercial and institutional customers while also providing payment distribution services to correspondent banking partners and FinTechs operating in the country.  

The upgrade is designed to reinforce the bank’s payment-processing capabilities as customer demand for faster, more seamless and interoperable payment services continues to grow. 

The deployment includes GPP’s high-value and mass-payments processing capabilities, providing BDO with a scalable platform to support both current and future payment requirements. The bank is already using the platform for SWIFT transactions and inbound PESONet processing, making it the largest commercial bank in the Philippines to leverage Finastra’s payments solution. 

Carlo B. Nazareno, Head of Cash Management Services at BDO, said the modernisation strengthens the bank’s ability to handle increasing payment volumes while improving efficiency and supporting evolving market needs. He added that the platform provides a foundation for delivering better customer experiences and enabling future innovation across the payments ecosystem. 

Through the implementation, BDO gains greater automation, rule-based payment orchestration and improved operational resilience. The platform also provides the flexibility to support evolving industry standards such as ISO 20022 and connect with emerging domestic and cross-border payment networks. 

Radha Suvarna, Chief Product Officer of Payments at Finastra, said banks are under increasing pressure to deliver payment experiences that are fast, reliable and tailored to changing customer expectations. She noted that consolidating high-value and mass-payment processing on a single platform helps reduce operational complexity while creating a more agile environment for innovation. 

From a FinTech perspective, the move reflects a broader industry trend toward unified payment hubs that consolidate multiple payment rails into a single platform. Financial institutions are increasingly adopting cloud-native, API-enabled payment architectures that support real-time processing, interoperability and data-rich messaging standards such as ISO 20022. 

The implementation also positions BDO to support future developments in payment orchestration, intelligent automation and AI-enabled operations. As payment ecosystems become more interconnected, modern payment hubs are emerging as critical infrastructure for banks seeking faster product deployment, lower operational costs and improved customer experiences across domestic and international payment networks.