Albay Rep. Joey Salceda slammed the use of quitclaims by banks to absolve themselves of legal responsibility in systemic failures in online banking services.
He made the statement in response to reports that certain banks have been making customers sign waivers when returning funds lost to technical issues with mobile banking applications.
“This is not acceptable. I request the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to look into whether we can take legal or administrative action against banks forcing clients to sign quitclaims in exchange for their own money,” said Salceda, the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.
Salceda said under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, which he principally sponsored and is now pending in the Senate after being approved by the House, there is a prohibition against waivers of claims.
“If it’s the bank’s fault, and it appears that there may have indeed been a breach of security systems, then the bank should not be able to squeeze itself out of its responsibility,” he said.
Salceda added even if the waivers are signed by individual clients, there should still be an investigation into whether certain banks involved in the bank account hacking issue violated the rules and regulations of the BSP.
“I also strongly urge the BSP to check the annual IT profiles and periodic reports to check whether the banks were able to accurately reflect the strength of their cybersecurity profiles. There are penalties for that as well,” he added. Maricel V. Cruz
