Congress approves bill to regulate PH’s credit card industry

The Congress approved a new bill that appoints Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to regulate the Philippines‘ credit card industry and protect the cardholders against abusive practices, CNN Philippines reports.

Called the “Philippine Credit Card Industry Regulation Act”, it encompasses all credit card issuers, acquirers, and all transaction pertaining to credit cards. It will issue standards of operation to make sure everything is done under the right practices with no one being subjected to any unfair arrangements.

The BSP’s supervision shall include:

The issuance of rules of conduct or the establishment of standards of operation for uniform application to all institutions or functions covered, and the imposition of penalties in case of noncompliance
The conduct of examination as determined by the Monetary Board to determine compliance
Oversight to ascertain that laws and regulations are complied with

The BSP may also limit and prohibit the charging of annual membership fees for credit cards.

Anyone who violates the bill or any BSP-given laws, for that matter, will be faced with fines (from Php50,000USD 852INR 72,230EUR 812CNY 6,205 to Php200,000USD 3,408INR 288,920EUR 3,246CNY 24,820) or imprisonment (from 2-10 years). Additionally, it could also be both fine and imprisonment.

{CNN Philippines}