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BSP orders removal of e-sabong from e-wallet apps
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday said it has ordered all its supervised financial institutions to remove all electronic sabong or “e-sabong” operators from the list of merchants in their respective online applications.
In a statement, the central bank said order was issued through Memorandum 2022-026 to all central bank-supervised financial institutions following President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to suspend all e-sabong operations in the country effective May 3, 2022.
Duterte issued the order
upon the recommendation of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to stop e-sabong or online cockfighting operations.The President’s decision came following a survey conducted by the by DILG in cities and provinces regarding e-sabong operations, which is being blamed for the deterioration of moral values among many Filipinos.
“The BSP reiterates that BSFIs should only deal with gambling and/or online gaming businesses that are allowed to operate by the appropriate government agency," said BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno.
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The BSP also directed its supervised financial institutions to inform their clients who still have remaining funds in their e-sabong accounts to transfer the funds back to their e-wallets within 30 days from the issuance of the memorandum.
After 30 days, the central bank said financial institutions are directed to disable the link between e-sabong accounts and e-money wallets, including e-sabong merchant operator accounts.
The memorandum also emphasized that BSP-supervised financial institutions “shall strictly observe customer due diligence, continuously monitor accounts and transactions, report suspicious transactions, and ensure that appropriate control measures are in place to restrict access of minors, government employees, and other prohibited players to online gambling facilities.”
Leading financial technology platforms GCash and Maya, formerly PayMaya, have brushed off the impact of the e-sabong stoppage on their financials. —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA News