BSP probe on GCash still ongoing The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is yet to wrap up its investigation on the reported unauthorized fund transfers of GCash users although the Department of Information and Communication (DICT) has concluded its probe and pointed to “internal glitch on the software” as the cause of those transactions.
“It (result of the investigation) will probably be available in 15 working days. We want to be thorough because we want to assure the public that it’s safe (to use electronic wallets) and that we are keeping it that way,” said Mamerto Tongonan, BSP deputy governor and head of the Payments and Currency Management Sector.
Early this month, some GCash users were affected by the unauthorized transfer due to errors in an ongoing system reconciliation process.
The BSP then instructed G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), the operator of GCash, to immediately resolve the issue and to submit regular updates on its actions on the matter.
Based on the initial report of GXI to the BSP, the incident was attributed to a system error and that they have of refunded the deductions.
“To instill that trust, we have to tell the public what happened, what we’re going to do about it, and how do they protect themselves from it if it happens. So, therefore, we will not dispense with any effort at getting at the root cause of this because that’s very important. Payment is built on trust. So, if you don’t trust it, no one will use it. And we don’t get the benefits,” Tongonan said on the sidelines of the 2024 BSP-IMF Systemic Risk Dialogue held here.
“We want to know what really was the root cause of this so that we could review our policy. Sometimes we have the policy but maybe we need to boost the enforcement,” Tongonan said.
Over at the Senate on Wednesday, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who defended the DICT’s proposed budget for next year, said the agency supports earlier findings of GXI the anomaly was not caused by hackers.
Gatchalian said DICT’s investigation is final unless the BSP seeks additional technical investigation from the agency.
GCash is registered with the BSP as a non-bank financial institution electronic money issuer. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.), which is in turn a partnership of Globe Telecom Inc., the Ayala Group, and Ant Financial. – Jimmy Calapati and Raymond Africa
