Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas warns banks vs tech crimes

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has warned banks on the rise of technology-related crimes, including identity theft, that could be used for money laundering and terrorist financing and weaken the integrity of financial institutions’ electronic transactions, officials said yesterday.

Monetary Board member Ignacio Bunye said technology has “magnified the greater role of banking, particularly in reaching far-flung areas” of the country.

“This is where technological endeavors such as electronic money, branchless banking and automated teller machines (ATMs) come into the picture,” Bunye said.

“However, the rising number of electronic facilities such as ATMs has also meant the rising number of technology-related crimes,” he said.

He added that among “the most frequent and notorious modus operandi is identity theft,” prompting the BSP to issue its latest circular letter April 8 on consumer and bank protection.

“The circular letter reminded the banking sector of the need to implement stricter measures to safeguard consumer information, thus protecting consumers from risks such as identity theft and unauthorized transactions,” Bunye said.

“The BSP called for strict adherence to earlier guidelines in order to help prevent money laundering, terrorist financing as well as promote the legal enforceability of bank’s electronic agreements and transactions,” he said.

He said according to Johnny Noe Ravalo, managing director of the BSP Centralized Supervisory Support Subsector, aside from meeting with different industry groups to remind them of the safety policies already in place, the BSP will also set standards on the complaints handling mechanism of banks.

For example, an ordinary client with a complaint against a particular ATM machine still has no idea where exactly to report the incident.

“We have collated all these data on the banks’ complaints handling mechanism and we will come up with a more uniform standard for the benefit of the public,” he said, quoting Ravalo.

He emphasized that while progress and development have more advantages than disadvantages, it still pays to be vigilant and proactive.

Through the implementation of safety measures, “the banking industry does its part in ensuring the interest of the Filipino people,” he said.

“Meantime, ATM card holders themselves would do well to adopt some common sense measures, such as handling their cards as if they were cash,” he said.