Mactan, Cebu — Following the GCash incident, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official stated that the central bank would strengthen its policies if the investigation revealed that the e-wallet platform was at fault for the unauthorized account deductions.

On the sidelines of the BSP-International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2024 Systematic Risk Dialogue, BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan said the central bank will address any policy gaps if GCash is found to be at fault.

Tangonan, who heads the BSP’s payments and currency management sector, stressed that uncovering the root cause of the issue is crucial to reviewing and strengthening policies to ensure the integrity and trust of the payment system.

“Actions have to be taken,” Tangonan said, if the investigation reveals a fault with GCash. “We will discuss it with their top management to address any gaps,” he added.

“Usually, when you get to the bottom of things, that will point you to any possible policy gaps. Therefore, we have to plug those gaps. That’s why you want to know what really was the root cause of this, so that we could review our policy,” Tangonan further said.

He also noted that sometimes the central bank already has the policy in place, “but maybe we need to boost enforcement.”

While Tangonan was not able to provide the exact figure on the compromised GCash accounts, he stated that “as you uncover, there may be much more.”

“If you compare it to the number of transactions that we have, or the number of customers that digital payments has, this is a very, very small number,” he said.

The deputy governor reported that fraudulent transfers in 2023 accounted for only 0.002 percent of total transfers, similar to the likelihood of an airline crash.

Tangonan said additional regulations would be a last resort, as existing rules often just need better monitoring and enforcement.

Last week, the BSP launched its investigation into G-Xchange Inc. (GXI), the operator of GCash.

Tangonan said results will be released after 15 working days, which is around late November or early December.

“We want to be thorough in this, because we want to assure the public that it’s safe and that we are keeping it that way. So to instill that trust, we have to tell the public what happened, what we're going to do about it, and how they can protect themselves from it if it happens,” he said.

Tangonan assured the public that the central bank “will not dispense with any effort at getting to the root cause of this because that's very important.”

He also confirmed that the lost amounts have been refunded to affected GCash account holders.