Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, Republic Act No. 11765 (Philippines)

The Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act is the regulatory framework aimed to protect the interest of financial consumers. The Act empowers the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Securities and Exchange Commission, Insurance Commission and the Cooperative Development Authority as financial regulators to formulate rules and regulations pursuant to their mandate to enforce and implement the provisions of the Act. The Act further requires financial regulators to provide modes in handling financial consumer redress, including modes of alternative dispute resolution. The Act provides for the responsibilities of financial service providers, including evaluation of its financial products or services, assessments of affordability and sustainability, and introduces the concept of the cooling-off period to enable financial consumers to adequately weigh the costs and risks of a financial product or service. Financial service providers are required to adopt disclosure principles to ensure transparency of its products to financial consumers. The Act penalizes investment fraud or any form of deceptive solicitation of investments from the public.