BSP, DOJ data-sharing pact speeds scam investigations

MANILA — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Justice signed an information-sharing agreement aimed at accelerating the investigation and prosecution of financial account scams and related offenses.

The agreement is expected to help authorities trace suspicious transactions and identify people behind online scams more quickly, reducing the risk of stolen funds being transferred through multiple accounts before investigators can intervene.

For consumers, faster coordination between the central bank and prosecutors could improve the government’s ability to prevent further losses, preserve evidence, and build cases against organized groups that exploit bank accounts, electronic wallets, and other financial services.

BSP General Counsel Roberto L. Figueroa, representing BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr., signed the agreement with DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Ty at the BSP Head Office in Manila on July 22, 2026.

“Stronger institutional collaboration enhances our collective ability to identify organized actors who exploit the financial system, disrupt their operations, and hold them accountable under the law,” Figueroa said.

BSP Deputy Governor Elmore O. Capule, adviser to the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act Technical Working Group, said the agreement “sends a very strong message that the government is fighting as one to protect the Filipino public.”

The pact establishes procedures through which the DOJ may request and receive financial account information from the BSP’s Consumer Account Protection Office.

The information may be requested under the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act, or AFASA, and BSP Circular No. 1214.

AFASA, formally Republic Act No. 12010, authorizes the BSP to investigate financial accounts that may have been used in prohibited activities, including money muling and social engineering schemes.

The law also allows information gathered by the central bank to be used in enforcing AFASA and relevant provisions of the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act.

Under BSP Circular No. 1214, a competent authority must first enter into an information-sharing agreement with the BSP before the Consumer Account Protection Office can accept a request for an account inquiry or disclose account information.

The circular identifies the DOJ, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Anti-Money Laundering Council, and Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center among the government bodies authorized to investigate or prosecute offenses covered by AFASA.

The agreement also limits the use of shared information to legally authorized purposes.

Safeguards cover confidentiality, encryption, data protection, access controls, audit trails, record retention, data transfers, security breaches, and other administrative, technical, and physical protections.

These controls are important because account inquiries may involve names, account numbers, registered mobile numbers, email addresses, identity documents, account status, and transaction records.

The system is intended to give investigators quicker access to information needed to follow the movement of suspected scam proceeds while ensuring that sensitive financial and personal data remain protected.

The BSP previously signed information-sharing agreements with the National Bureau of Investigation, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, and Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2026.

The DOJ agreement expands that network by linking the central bank’s account-inquiry authority directly with the government department responsible for prosecuting criminal cases.