The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has alerted its BSP-supervised financial institutions to be on the lookout for possible electronic vote-buying or selling this coming May 2022 elections and to strengthen their fraud management systems.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has alerted supervised financial institutions and banks to enhance their surveillance and monitoring measures to deter digital vote-buying and selling schemes in relation to the upcoming elections in May 2022.
The BSP issued Memorandum M-2021-074 to mitigate heightened risks of the possible use of electronic channels like online banking and mobile wallets in vote buying or selling activities.
The central bank also specified possible scenarios such as the concentration or significant number of transaction account registrations in an area where vote buying or selling has been identified as rampant.
The BSP also alerted banks to be vigilant of large cash transactions during the election period. It also warned against unusual transaction flows between accounts and unusual volume and/or value in cash in or cash out channels.
Adjust fraud management systems
Likewise, the central bank advised BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) to adjust their fraud management systems (FMS) and transaction monitoring parameters to foil the possible misuse of online financial channels.
BSFIs should also implement necessary enhancements and remedial measures to ensure that appropriate customer onboarding processes and effective FMS are in place, the BSP said.
The BSP is closely coordinating with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to reduce, if not curb, election vote buying or selling using digital financial platforms.
Tags: #2022Elections, #votebuying, #BangkoSentralngPilipinas