Risks brought to light by the crisis During the financial crisis of 2007–08, weakness in the infrastructures of some financial markets contributed to uncertainty and, although not the cause of the crisis, intensified the systemic risk. This was notably the case in repo markets.
As such, it is important to strategically address the challenges and issues that impede this critical sector. With such a large base and low penetration of merchants utilizing and accepting digital channels, the potential is huge. To address some of the key challenges in digitalizing merchant payments, the Bangko Sentral embarked on initiatives that promoted the widespread use of QR codes for payments.