The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued guidelines on the banks’ responsible use of social media, with the requirements aimed at ensuring that necessary safeguards and standards are in place to mitigate the risks involved.
“At the back of this evolving and increasingly dynamic operating environment, the new regulation underscores the importance of having a well-defined social-media risk-management strategy aligned with BSFIs’ [BSP-supervised financial institutions] strategic business goals or plans,” the central bank said in a statement on Thursday.
Under the guidelines, the banks are told to adopt appropriate risk-management mechanisms and governance structure that effectively identify, measure, manage and monitor risks arising from the use of social-media platforms
The mechanisms depend on the extent and degree of the banks’ social-media
usage.
“A BSFI’s social-media risk-management program should, at a minimum, be able to address potential reputational risks, as well as provide guidance on acceptable use of social media by employees, whether for official or personal purposes,” the central bank said.
The banks should see to it that existing rules and regulations on financial consumer protection, cyber security, outsourcing and antimoney laundering, among others, are also still complied with.
Aside from ensuring that legal, reputational, strategic, operational and compliance risks are addressed, the guidelines places emphasis on new risks the banks must consider in designing their program.
The new risks, according to the central bank, include the growing threat on information security and fraud, such as account take over, malware attacks, and phishing and spoofing schemes, among others.
The BSP said the issuance was in line with the country’s fast expanding social-media footprint.
The BSP noted the Philippines has over 48 million active social-media accounts equal to 47 percent of the population.
This makes the Philippines one of the world’s fastest-growing nations in terms of social-media use and level of engagement across various social-media platforms.
