The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has instructed banks and cost companies to strengthen safeguards for QR-enabled funds and service provider accounts.
The steerage comes amid steps to handle dangers linked to cash laundering, fraud and unlawful monetary actions, based on a report by native publication The Manila Instances.
The directive was issued by Memorandum M-2026-017. It applies to BSP-supervised establishments (BSIs) and covers account onboarding, service provider monitoring and cost settlement preparations.
Within the memorandum, the BSP stated BSIs should guarantee controls stay “efficient and commensurate with threat” as cost exercise expands throughout digital channels.
“BSP-supervised establishments (BSls) are enjoined to strictly be certain that their anti-money laundering and countering terrorism and proliferation financing (AML/CTPF) controls, together with account onboarding controls and ongoing account monitoring, stay efficient and commensurate with threat throughout all cost actions,” the publication quoted the central financial institution as saying.
The memorandum additionally restated tasks for monetary establishments engaged in service provider cost acceptance. This consists of setups involving cost aggregators and different intermediaries.
The BSP stated cost aggregators have “unbiased and commensurate” anti-money laundering (AML) tasks. These embody service provider due diligence, risk-based onboarding and monitoring, implementation of threat mitigation measures, and suspicious transaction reporting.
On the identical time, the central financial institution stated banks and monetary establishments stay primarily accountable for managing AML dangers linked to settlement accounts. It added that establishments ought to preserve ample visibility over underlying retailers and associated cost exercise.
The BSP outlined measures BSIs are anticipated to implement.
These embody sustaining entry to sub-merchant info and transaction-level information, making use of risk-based onboarding requirements, and conducting periodic critiques.
It stated critiques could end in restrictions or termination of relationships involving high-risk or non-compliant sub-merchants.
The central financial institution additionally directed supervised establishments to make sure the right use of service provider accounts. It known as for clear distinctions between service provider accounts and private accounts primarily based on the character and function of transactions.
BSIs had been instructed to strengthen ongoing service provider monitoring, together with periodic critiques of service provider profiles, account utilization and transaction behaviour. The BSP additionally raised considerations over “mule retailers” and the unauthorised use or misuse of QR codes, and advised establishments to undertake risk-based measures to detect and stop such exercise.