Senate OKs bill protecting depositors from cybercrimes

The Senate on Wednesday approved on third and final reading the proposed Financial Consumers Protection Act.

The bill, which seeks to further protect financial consumers from cybercrimes, was approved on second and third reading on the same day as President Rodrigo Duterte certified Senate Bill 2488 as urgent.

The senators voted 19-0-0 on the measure.

According to Senator Grace Poe, the sponsor of the bill, the measure will reinforce and strengthen the rights of Filipino consumers to equitable and fair treatment, disclosure and transparency of financial products and services, protection of consumer assets against ready and misuse, data privacy and protection, and the timely handling and redress of complaints.

Citing data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Poe said a total of 2,456 complaints from 2020 to 2021. These complaints involved an estimated amount of P540 million.

She added that from 2019 to 2021 alone, around P2 billion were reported to have been lost to cybercrimes, such as account takeovers or identity theft, phishing and social engineering schemes including card-not-present fraud.

These are considered by the BSP as the top three cybercrimes in 2020.

“It is our hope that this bill gives consumers peace of mind that their hard-earned money will not be lost or taken away without any explanation or accountability,” Poe, chair of the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies, said.

She also emphasized the need to build trust between consumers and financial institutions.

This, she said, will help in reaching the target to double the number of Filipinos with bank accounts to 70 percent by 2023.

“Let’s not waste the newfound confidence of people who shifted to online banking during the pandemic. The bigger goal is financial inclusion for every Filipino,” Poe said.—LDF, GMA News