Duterte Signs RA No. 11765 Protecting Consumers from Financial Fraudsters

President Rodrigo Duterte has officially signed RA No. 11765, a law expanding the scope of regulators in order to protect Filipino consumers from financial fraudsters and scammers. Signed by Duterte last May 6, the new law now gives financial regulators the following responsibilities and powers:

• “Rule-making in which regulators are authorized to formulate their own standards for financial products and services”
• “Market conduct surveillance and examination of service providers”
• “Market monitoring or the authority to require service providers and their third-party providers to submit relevant documents.”
• “Enforcement, including restricting unreasonable fees, disqualification of employees or officers of service providers, imposition of fines, issuance of cease and desist order without a prior hearing, and suspension of operations, among others “
• “Consumer redress or complaints handling mechanism”
• “Adjudication of financial transactions that are purely civil and where the claim or relief sought by the consumer does not exceed P10 million “

Senator Grace Poe who currently chairs the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies states a 53% rise in the sector of banked adult Filipinos due to the rise of various e-money accounts, which comes with the risk of consumers facing possible investment scams, small scale fraud, and financial hacking. “The increase in financial inclusion resulted in the marked increase in incidence of financial fraud and scams… thus the need for the law that lists all rights of financial consumers,” says Poe.

Data from credit reporting company TransUnion also shows that 44% of Filipinos have been targeted by digital fraud attempts, while attempts on businesses have also seen a rise of 31% in 2021.

Senator Win Gatchalian also says, “We need to strengthen the powers of government and clear up the lines on who will protect financial consumers and what are the mechanisms for financial consumers to tap into in case of fraud.”

Source: ABS CBN News