The Fintech Alliance Philippines is establishing a private sector-led Fraud Bureau, guided by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to combat money muling and bolster enforcement of the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), or Republic Act No. 12010.
Fintech Alliance PH president Lito Villanueva announced the initiative during the 51st Philippine Business Conference on Tuesday, saying it would allow industry participants to share fraud data and jointly develop solutions against scams involving mule accounts.
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“Part of that is also having to come up with interventions that would further support the AFASA law,” Villanueva said in a panel discussion.
The AFASA law penalizes scams such as phishing, vishing and money muling, imposing stricter penalties for offenders, stronger compliance responsibilities for financial institutions and granting the BSP authority to investigate suspicious accounts without a court order in certain cases.
Villanueva said the initiative complements the AFASA law’s mandate, which requires all banks and BSP-supervised financial institutions to adopt fraud management and anti-money laundering systems by June next year.
He noted the prevalence of mule accounts, often involving Filipinos who sell their legitimate bank accounts or identities to criminal groups for illicit transactions.
The alliance said it is coordinating efforts among financial institutions to ensure broad participation. It is also collaborating with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expand the effort’s reach, in addition to the BSP.
Earlier, the alliance submitted a white paper to Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center, outlining the roadmap for the proposed Fraud Bureau. Villanueva said the initiative embodies a shared responsibility among players in the digital ecosystem.
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