EARLIER this year, I was uneasy when Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) extolled the virtues of cyberbanking, particularly in terms of its potential contribution to decreasing the significance of cash as a preferred payment medium. “Let’s move towards a ‘Cashlite’ society” was the thrust of comments at the time.
There were those, including this writer, who expressed unease about what seemed to be uncritical support for cyberbanking and the implication that cash or cheques were outdated means of making payments.
We also gave examples of where cyberbanking was not perfect. Indeed, we have experienced inconvenience and even fraudulence from cyberbanking.
In other words, it is easy to oversell cyberbanking as they way forward. Many of us are happy with cash or cheques as efficient and reliable payment media. In fact, I have recently celebrated my diamond (60th) anniversary of trouble-free cheque transactions.
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We were delighted, therefore, when the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) last week gave a realistic picture of the world of cyberbanking.
In fact, BAP announced that losses from banking fraud perpetrated by cybercriminals has already exceeded P1 billion this year. BAP further reported that cybercrimes targeting banks and their customers have more than tripled compared to pre-pandemic levels.
We also welcome BSP’s recent announcement that it is promulgating new regulations designed to ensure that payment system operators such as GCash become more efficient and safer.
We look forward to a favorable outcome which will do much to ensure greater acceptability of these operators who, currently, do not have our undoubted confidence.
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The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is also taking steps to ensure that we have a safer banking environment by improving the requirement to share intelligence information with law enforcement agencies. I recall that shared intelligence between various entities was helpful in establishing what happened in the $2 billion (P100 billion) Wirecard AG accounting fraud.
What we need now is a justice system which can cause guilty parties in this fraud to be held accountable in a reasonable time frame./PN
