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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider Record banking complaints hit BSP amid digital shift

Record banking complaints hit BSP amid digital shift

Published Aug 10, 2026 12:00 am
Consumer complaints handled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) surged 72.6 percent to over 120,000 last year, driven by heightened public awareness of the central bank’s redress channels alongside the rapid adoption of digital financial services.
“Under its Consumer Assistance Mechanism (CAM), the BSP received and processed over 120,000 new complaints—a 72.6-percent increase from 70,112 in 2024,” the central bank noted in its 2025 annual report.
This upward trajectory extends a trend established in 2021, when complaint volume stood at just over 19,000. According to the report, the steady rise reflects growing public familiarity with BSP intake channels, broader reliance on digital platforms, and heightened media coverage of the Financial Consumer Protection Act (FCPA) and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).
To address the growing volume and complexity of these disputes, the BSP fast-tracked the implementation of AFASA, which mandates stricter fraud safeguards and response systems.
“The law authorizes the BSP to obtain information on financial accounts suspected of involvement in scams through specific exemptions from bank secrecy and data privacy laws,” the central bank added.
To operationalize these provisions, the regulator issued Circular No. 1215, authorizing the temporary hold of suspicious transactions. Under the rule, financial institutions may retain disputed funds for up to 30 days when internal fraud monitoring systems or account holder reports indicate potential scam activity.
The surge in volume also impacted dispute resolution outcomes. While mediation referrals climbed by nearly 50 percent, the mediation success rate fell from 84.4 percent in 2024 to 74 percent in 2025—a shift the BSP attributed to consumers pursuing alternative legal remedies, including formal adjudication or court action.
Intake processes continue to rely on the BSP’s AI-powered chatbot, BOB. Recent backend upgrades have enhanced data extraction and classification, improving database accuracy and enabling more detailed reporting on consumer issues.

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Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
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