More financial complaints lodged at BSP

MANILA, Philippines —  Consumer complaints filed with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) jumped by 62 percent to around 70,000 last year from the previous year’s 43,115, as more Filipinos become aware of their rights under the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).

BSP managing director Charina de Vera-Yap said that out of the 70,000 complaints received last year, only 13 percent involved unauthorized transactions often linked to phishing and other scam activities.

“Maybe this year or next year, we will be able to provide more details on AFASA-related complaints,” Yap said in a press briefing.

“We saw an increase in complaints because more people are becoming aware of their rights and they know they have this redress mechanism with the BSP or even with their financial institution,” she said.

While the BSP does not want complaint numbers to rise, she noted that it is a natural outcome of having a “pro-consumer” law like AFASA.

“When people hear that this law can protect them, we assume that more will come forward to seek redress,” Yap said.

Out of the total complaints elevated to the BSP last year, about 41 percent were resolved in favor of consumers.

According to Yap, many disputes are already settled at the level of financial institutions, and only unresolved cases are elevated to the central bank.

Janice Ayson-Zales, director of the BSP’s Consumer Complaints Resolution Office, said AFASA could ultimately help reduce the number of complaints if financial institutions implement safeguards such as interconnected fraud management systems (FMS).

“With the passage of AFASA, we are anticipating that complaints will go down,” Zales said. “For example, if a bank detects transactions in Europe just five minutes after one in Manila, the system should flag and stop it.”

She said that AFASA empowers banks to temporarily hold funds for five days if suspicious activity is reported. This gives consumers time to submit proof such as affidavits and police reports, which can extend the freeze to 25 days while investigations are ongoing.

“We hope that with the implementation of BSP circulars, banks will act quickly and complaints won’t even reach us,” she said.

Consumer mediation cases handled by the BSP more than doubled to 703 in 2024 from 322 in 2023, with the success rate also improving to 83 percent from 69 percent.

As of May, the BSP has already recorded 400 mediation cases for the year.

“The complaints filed with the BSP are rising,” Zales said.

“But we hope that with AFASA, scammers will be stopped and fewer clients will be victimized,” she added.

The BSP has also issued decisions in over 60 adjudication cases since 2022, directing banks to reimburse victims in instances where extraordinary diligence was not exercised.

Zales said the most substantial amount resolved through mediation so far involved an account takeover incident worth P12 million. The case was settled after the complainant clicked a phishing link and lost control of the account.