On 1 September 2022, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ("BSP") launched the Advanced Supervisory Technology ("SupTech") Engine for Risk-based Compliance, otherwise known as ASTERisC, for deployment among selected BSP-supervised Financial Institutions ("BSFIs"). The primary purpose of ASTERisC is to strengthen and enhance the cyber resilience of banks nationwide and to protect consumers, especially considering the present wide use of digital payments.
According to BSP, ASTERisC is a unified regulatory technology ("RegTech") and SupTech solution that streamlines and automates regulatory supervision, reporting, and compliance assessment of BSFIs' cybersecurity management. BSP's RegTech and SupTech solution is the next generation digital supervision tools and techniques aimed at enhancing the timeliness and quality of risk-based decision making.
BSP is also expected to issue the Financial Services Cyber Resilience Plan soon, which will serve as the primary framework for policies and strategies to strengthen cyber defence in the financial services industry. According to BSP, the pandemic has pushed the share of digital payments in the total volume of retail transactions from 20.1% in 2020 to 30.3% in 2021. Furthermore, the value of payments facilitated by online payment platforms also rose from a 26.8% share in 2020 to 44.1% of the total retail transactions in 2021. BSP envisions further growth in the use of digital payments, necessitating greater cyber protection. In fact, BSP itself would like digital payments to make up 50% of all transactions both in terms of volume and value by year 2023.
BSP will continue to develop the ASTERisC with the goal of improving cyber security. BSP is committed to further consult and engage the participation of BSFIs, government agencies, and industry associations for a cohesive and industry-wide approach to addressing cyber security issues, and to enhance cyber incident response.
