Resolutions of online transaction-related complaints filed with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) continue to increase, authorities said Wednesday.
In a briefing at the BSP office here, lawyer Charina de Vera-Yap, Managing Director of the BSP’s Financial Inclusion and Consumer Empowerment Sub-Sector, said there were 322 cases for mediation in 2023, and these registered 69 percent success rates in favor of the complainants.
The following year, mediation cases reached 703, and the success rate rose to 83 percent, she said.
In the first five months this year, mediation cases already reached 400, but Yap did not give details on how many of these have been resolved so far.
Yap said these cases are only for those filed with the central bank.
“Because as mentioned by DG (Deputy Governor Elmore Capule), the first level of recourse, if ever making a complaint, is your financial institution,” she said. “So we assume na at that point, na-resolve na sya sa level ng financial institution (So, we assume that at that point, the cases have been resolved at the level of the financial institution).”
Measures vs. online financial scams
The rising number of financial transaction-related complaints is the reason why central bank officials, among others, lobbied for the passage of the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), signed into law in July 2024.
The law aims to prevent the use of financial accounts in fraud and scams like phishing and vishing, or voice phishing, both of which are aimed at getting the account owners’ personal information and log-in credentials among others.
The law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) have been published and will take effect June 25, 2025, Capule said during the same briefing.
The IRR gives institutions a year to comply with the regulations, which include updated security systems such as improved or additional account authentication methods on top of the one-time password (OTP) to help secure their clients’ accounts.
“Pag di nila ma-meet yun, maraming consequence(s). One, administrative sanctions. Number 2, if somebody gets defrauded and their system is not ready, they can be held the ones civilly liable (If they failed to meet the new requirements) there will be lots of consequences. One, administrative sanctions. Number 2, if somebody gets defrauded and their system is not ready, they can be held the ones civilly liable),” Capule added. (PNA)
