BSP eyes enhanced rules on online banking

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is consulting the banking sector on a plan to issue new rules regarding online financial transactions next month. 

The new guidelines seek to enhance information technology (IT) risk management framework in a bid to further strengthen the industry’s capacity against cybercrimes, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said.

Espenilla said the BSP will issue a circular that would cover, among others, cloud computing, encryption standards and use of new technologies.

“Right now we are getting industry to comment on it because we need the inputs of the sector to create a regulation that is actually useful to the industry,” he said.

The incoming central bank chief, in his speech during the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), said the BSP had put in place several measures to prevent cybercrime from wreaking havoc in the country’s banking sector.

One of these is Circular 808, issued on Aug. 22, 2013, which is the base guidelines of bank’s IT risk management framework.

Espenilla said the circular covered the measures to safeguard customers’ information and prevent fraud vis-a-vis banks electronic products and services, among others.

He said the soon-to-be-released circular was an enhancement of Circular 808.

“This primarily introduces a renewed focus on information security in line with technological developments and innovation, dynamic risk profiles, and a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape surrounding BSFIs (BSP Supervised Financial Institutions),” he said.

“The amendments highlight the need to integrate cyber security controls and measures into that ISP (information security program),” he added.