SOME banks have requested an extension of a looming deadline to implement fraud management systems but the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) remains set on compliance.
BSP General Counsel Roberto Figueroa told reporters that feedback requesting more time had reached the central bank. The matter, he added, was “being discussed internally.”
For now, the regulator is sticking to the existing June deadline, with extension to depend on whether banks can clearly justify why they will be unable to comply.
Under the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (Afasa), financial institutions are mandated to implement a robust fraud management system capable of detecting, flagging and blocking suspicious transactions.
This includes looking for unusual patterns, such as “high-velocity activity” — multiple, similar, simultaneous or consecutive transactions — that may indicate fraudulent behavior that is often executed using bots, malware, zero-day exploits or other sophisticated attack methods.
These protocols are critical because of the speed at which fraudulent transactions move through the financial system, and Figueroa said the law was already being used in a number of cases filed by enforcement agencies.
A key feature of Afasa is the ability to immediately stop the movement of funds once the BSP issues an inquiry order. The hold, Figueroa said, generally lasts for 30 days.
He said the law was designed to work alongside the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), especially in cases where authorities are still securing court approval for longer asset freezes.
“What we’re trying to do is to plug the gaps or the holes in AMLA, because there is a requirement to get a court order before the freeze,” Figueroa said.
