Duterte Signs Bill Protecting Financial Consumers From Cybercrime

President Duterte signed a bill that will give further protection to financial consumers, including protection against cybercrime committed by financial entities. 

Republic Act  No. 11765 or the “Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act”, signed by Duterte on May 6, recognizes that the state must implement measures to protect consumer rights such as the right to equitable and fair treatment; right to disclosure and transparency of financial products and services; right to protection of consumer assets against fraud and misuse; right to data privacy and protection; and right to timely handling and redress of complaints.

With this, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Securities and Exchange Commission, and Insurance Commission (IC) are now authorized to “formulate their own standards and rules of business conduct for financial entities”. It means that the authority to promulgate rules has been delegated to these financial regulators, to regulate financial entities or those that provide financial services.

Among others, the financial regulators are authorized to do the following acts:

1. Determine the reasonableness of interest charges.
2. Order the reimbursement of lost funds not exceeding P10 million.
3. Restrict the collection of excessive or unreasonable fees by service providers.
4. Conduct surveillance and examination of financial service providers, as well as require the submission of reports.
5. Disqualify directors, officers, and employees, as well as suspend a company’s operation should they violate this law.

Moreover, under Section 8, financial entities are prohibited from using abusive collection or debt recovery practices. This includes online harassment, online blackmail, online threats, and similar acts. Financial entities are also mandated to respect the privacy and protect the data of their clients, in connection with the Data Privacy Act of 2012. This means that they cannot gather your contacts or share your details with them. All these provisions will protect financial consumers against cybercrime in relation to financial services, especially loan products.

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