LEADING digital solutions platform Globe has partnered with the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) to establish a cooperation framework for intelligence and data-sharing as it ramped up cybersecurity initiatives to keep the public safe from malicious and fraudulent activities online.
Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu and BAP president Antonio Moncupa Jr. led the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) along with Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief privacy officer Irish Salandanan-Almeida, BAP Cybersecurity Committee chairman Eugene Acevedo, and BAP managing director Benjamin Castillo on Aug. 4, 2022.
Established in March 1949, BAP now has 45 member banks, including 21 local banks and 24 foreign branches.
Through the agreement, BAP will encourage its member banks to work with Globe in addressing the rising volume and complexity of financial crimes, identity theft, phishing, spam SMS, scams and fraud brought about by increasing digital adoption.
These activities severely impact consumers and key stakeholders in the financial, telecommunications, e-commerce and other industries.
“The MOU with BAP will pave the way for Globe and the BAP member-banks to share data and intelligence for enhanced fraud detection and prevention. This will reduce limitations and streamline the collaborative process while ensuring compliance with the Data Privacy Act of the Philippines,” said Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu.
“We are pleased to enter into this partnership with Globe—one that would enhance the banking industry’s collective efforts in preventing cybercrime,” Antonio C. Moncupa, president of BAP, said. “This MOU will add to the measures we have in taking down cybercriminals and holding them accountable for their actions.”
Before the MOU, Globe had been collaborating with major banks and online retailers separately, providing a direct and round-the-clock communication channel for quick and efficient reporting, investigation, and blocking of any malicious activity.
For the first half of 2022 alone, Globe’s anti-spam and security protocols successfully blocked more than 138 million spam messages, over 9 million bank-related spam messages, and 1,119 spam voice calls.
Globe started its cybersecurity transformation journey in 2014 by building its capabilities to prevent attacks and threats to its infrastructure and protect its customers. It has a 24/7 security operations center with 100 people to fend off and detect attacks or breaches quickly.
Globe has also been relentless in its fight against cyber threats. It has a #StopSPAM portal for incident reports and cyber safety educational materials. It has also been rolling out the #MakeITsafePH campaign and the Digital Thumbprint Program to raise awareness and push for responsible digital citizenship.
“We are continuously improving our anti-spam efforts. The partnership with BAP will strengthen our countermeasures against bank-related scams and spam,” Cu said.
As part of the country’s digitalization journey, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas aims to convert 50 percent of total retail transaction volume to electronic channels by 2023 under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
The central bank has successfully increased the share of digital payments in total retail transactions to 30.3 percent last year from 20.1 percent in 2020 and a mere one percent in 2013.
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