BSP reminds financial firms to comply with consumer protection standards

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) has reminded its supervised institutions (BSIs) to comply with standards to protect consumers from fraudulent or unauthorized transactions and address related concerns promptly.

In a memorandum, the central bank advised its BSIs to “ensure full compliance with the Consumer Protection Standard of Conduct on the Protection of Consumer Assets Against Fraud and Misuse.”

“To mitigate the risks of fraud and misuse faced by financial consumers, BSIs, to the extent allowed by existing laws, rules, and regulations, must provide necessary assistance, including the provision of relevant information relating to fraudulent or unauthorized transactions,” it said.

“Further, BSIs must provide clear information on the actions taken or to be taken on a complaint, inquiry or request from a financial consumer involving fraudulent or unauthorized transactions.”

The central bank said that BSIs must “adequately inform financial consumers of their responsibilities, as users of financial products and services and provide timely transaction notifications which are essential in curtailing and detecting fraudulent or unauthorized transactions.”

Claims must be resolved in a fair, reasonable, timely and transparent manner, it said.

“Fraud-related concerns should be given utmost priority and should be resolved within a reasonable time commensurate to the complexity of the circumstances,” it added.

Consumers must also be provided with free and active reporting channels that must be available on a 24/7 basis, the BSP said. These can be in the form of a phone line, mobile number, online portal, e-mail address, chatbot, instant messaging or other communication channels.

For unauthorized transactions, concerns or disputes must be filed with the originating financial institution (OFI).

“Upon receipt of fund transfer disputes or alleged unauthorized transactions, the OFI shall immediately inform and provide relevant details to the receiving financial institution (RFI),” the BSP said.

Pending the result of an investigation of the dispute or allegations, OFIs and RFIs may implement measures to protect financial consumers, such as suspending the imposition of interest, fees or charges, if applicable and holding the disputed funds if still intact.

Other measures include providing reasonable accommodations to the financial consumer and performing other necessary actions to protect the financial consumers’ interest and assets, such as account blocking.

BSIs must inform the client formally of the result within three banking days from the conclusion of the investigation, the central bank said.

If the transaction is found unauthorized, the BSI must correct or reverse the transaction including any related interest, charges or fees and make permanent the provisionally-credited amount, if any.

The memorandum also noted that the recent Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act now allows BSIs to temporarily hold the funds subject of a disputed transaction for a period not exceeding 30 calendar days under certain grounds. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson