Consumer complaints flood central bank in 2025

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August 10, 2026 | 12:00am

Surge 73 percent to over 120,000

MANILA, Philippines — Consumer complaints received by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas surged by nearly 73 percent in 2025 as more Filipinos turned to the BSP for help in resolving disputes with banks and other financial institutions.

In its 2025 annual report, the BSP said it received and processed more than 120,000 new complaints through its consumer assistance mechanism (CAM), up by 72.6 percent from 70,112 complaints in 2024.

“The upward trend reflects greater public awareness of the BSP’s CAM channels, wider adoption of digital platforms and increased media attention on the FCPA and AFASA,” the central bank said.

The Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (FCPA) strengthened safeguards for users of financial products, while the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) gave authorities additional tools to combat scams involving bank and e-wallet accounts.

The surge in complaints comes as the BSP steps up consumer protection measures amid the continued shift toward digital banking and payments.

BOB, the BSP’s artificial intelligence-enabled online chatbot, remained the main channel through which consumers elevated complaints to the central bank last year.

Complaints that cannot be resolved through the BSP’s initial facilitative process may be referred to mediation. Such referrals jumped by 48.9 percent to 1,057 in 2025 from 710 a year earlier.

Including 131 cases carried over from 2024, the central bank handled a total of 1,188 mediation cases during the year.

Of the 876 cases that were completed in 2025, 409 were successfully resolved through mediation, while 144 failed to reach an amicable settlement. Another 323 cases were terminated for other reasons.

However, the BSP’s mediation success rate fell to 74 percent in 2025 from 84.4 percent the previous year.

“This drop may be attributed to stronger consumer awareness of alternative remedies, such as adjudication or court action,” it said.

A mediation is considered successful when the parties reach a settlement or agree that the matter has been sufficiently clarified and the proceedings can be closed.

Consumers may also pursue formal adjudication for eligible disputes. The BSP handled 68 formal complaints under its adjudication mechanism last year, including 12 carried over from 2024. Of these, 11 were decided and 20 were dismissed, while 37 remained pending as of end-December.

“These redress mechanisms supported fair, impartial and orderly resolution of consumer disputes, consistent with the BSP’s mandate under the FCPA,” the central bank said.

Alongside the increase in consumer complaints, the BSP moved to strengthen how banks report and manage grievances from their customers.

In 2025, it revised requirements for the Banks’ Consolidated Complaints Report, a standardized regulatory report covering the nature, volume, handling and resolution of complaints.

The revised reporting framework was integrated into the BSP’s Prudential Reporting Innovation and Monitoring Engine with standardized taxonomies and validation controls. The central bank also conducted capacity-building sessions for banks in October and November last year.

The BSP is likewise developing a Consumer Protection Supervision Framework that will use a risk-based approach in assessing activities of BSP-supervised institutions that affect consumer experience.