THE House of Representatives on Monday approved on second reading House Bill (HB) 7393, which would protect all persons from various cybercrime schemes by regulating the use of financial accounts.
The proposed “Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act” would prohibit and punish acting as a money mule, performing social engineering schemes, and committing economic sabotage, among other financial crimes.
It also provides that banks and other financial institutions would ensure that access to accounts are protected through multi-factor authentication (MFA), security redundancies, and other account-holder authentication and verification processes.
Also approved on second reading was HB 7446, seeking to promote transparent governance and institute anti-corruption mechanisms in the operation of banks and other financial institutions.
The bill aims to lift the barriers in the effective investigation and prosecution of corrupt or illegal financial actions of stockholders, owners, directors, trustees, officers or employees of entities supervised and regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
This would also help combat tax evasion, money laundering and other financial crimes; address the unintended consequences of bank secrecy laws; and comply with international standards on transparency in financial transactions.
Deputy Speaker Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco presided over the plenary session.
