Probe on unauthorized GCash deductions to be completed December

CEBU, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) investigation on unauthorized deductions in mobile payment provider GCash is expected to be completed by the second week of December.

“We want to be thorough in this because we want to assure the public that it’s safe and that we are keeping it that way,” BSP Payments and Currency Management Sector Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan said on the sidelines of the 2024 BSP-International Monetary Fund Systemic Risk Dialogue here.

“So 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 if it happens,” he added.

The BSP earlier said the investigation aims to identify possible vulnerabilities and review compliance with regulations and policies.

It instructed G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), the operator of GCash e-wallet, to immediately resolve the unauthorized deductions and to swiftly complete the process of refunds.

GCash attributed the deductions to a system error.

According to Tangonan, GCash reported that it already returned the deducted amounts to affected GCash users.

Tangonan assured the public that the BSP is determined to identify the root cause.

“Payment is built on trust. So, if you don’t trust it, no one will use it. And we don’t get the benefits,” he said.

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Asked whether the BSP will impose additional regulations for such incidents, Tangonan said it will depend on the results of the investigation.

“Usually, when you get to the bottom of things, that will point you to any possible policy gaps. Then, therefore, we have to plug those gaps,” Tangonan said.

“That’s why 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,” he added.