BSP to complete GCash probe next month

MACTAN, Cebu, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects to complete its investigation over unauthorized deductions on digital payments provider GCash by mid-December.

BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said that the central bank aims to uncover the root cause of the reported deductions and determine whether additional regulations or enforcement measures are necessary.

“The investigation is still ongoing. We want to be thorough in this because we want to assure the public that (digital payments) are safe,” he said. “Payments are built on trust. If you don’t trust it, no one will use it and we don’t get the benefits.”

The central bank expects to release the results of the investigation within 15 working days, Tangonan said.

While the BSP has yet to finalize the exact number of accounts affected, Tangonan said that fraudulent transfers represent an extremely small fraction, or just 0.002 percent, of total digital transactions reported to the central bank in 2023.

He also clarified that the deductions were not a result of fraud by GCash users. The incident was attributed to a system error. The accounts impacted by the glitch were promptly resolved, with affected customers being reimbursed in full by the platform.

The BSP official declined to speculate on potential findings. However, he said the investigation’s outcome would determine whether policy changes are necessary.

“Sometimes, we have good regulations in place but need to boost enforcement,” Tangonan said, adding that new regulations would be considered only as a last resort.

If the BSP’s investigation reveals lapses on GCash’s part, the BSP will engage with the company’s senior management to address the identified gaps.

“If there are infractions or non-compliance, sanctions could be imposed,” Tangonan explained, but he stressed that any course of action would depend on the investigation’s findings.

The BSP Deputy Governor assured the public that the probe’s priority is to strengthen confidence in digital payments, ensuring the safety and reliability of these systems.

GCash, a subsidiary of Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), is one of the Philippines’ largest digital payment platforms, with millions of users relying on the service for everyday transactions.