The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued Circular No. 542, providing for consumer protection for electronic banking. The salient features of Circular No. 542 are:

1. With the growth of e-banking and e-commerce, banks should use reliable methods of originating new customer accounts, ensuring strict adherence to the usual “KYC” or “know your clients” requirements.

2. The Circular spells out the minimum security measures that a bank should employ in its automated teller machine (ATM) facilities and internet or mobile banking activities to protect depositors and consumers from fraud, robbery and other e-banking crimes.

 

There are a number of good reasons in favor of having and using a credit card. Still, we all know the possible adverse results in the unchecked use of “plastics” or credit cards, such as this one:

THERE’S a credit-card horror story that’s become some sort of an urban legend: A television personality, after losing his job in a top network, resorts to using his plastic money. By the time he finds employment in the rival network, he has wracked up P58,000 in credit card bills. But he figures he’s not yet ready to pay in full, so he pays just the minimum amount due. Yet after five years, he is shocked to realize that his credit card debt had ballooned more than 10 times to P700,000.

With the suspension of the Usury Law and the removal of interest ceilings, the parties are generally free to stipulate the interest rates to be imposed on monetary obligations. As a rule, the interest rate agreed by the creditor and the debtor is binding upon them. This rule, however, is not absolute.

The General Information Sheet (GIS) is one of the documents required to be submitted to the SEC on a yearly basis. As pescribed in SEC Circular No. 5 (2006), starting 1 April 2006, only filings that conform to the format of the official GIS form shall be accepted by SEC. Any deviation shall be considered as non-compliant with existing rules and regulation and, hence, will not be accepted.

Q: What is the legal basis of the prohibition on “No Return, No Exchange” Policy of business establishments?

A: Pursuant to the Implementing Rules and Regulations of R.A. 7394, or the Consumer Act of the Philippines, specifically Title III, Chapter I, Rule 2, Section 7 of Department Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2, series 1993, the words “No Return, No Exchange”, or words to such effect shall not be written into the contract of sale, receipt or sales transaction, in any document evidencing such sale or anywhere in the store or business establishment.

Checks are indispensable to aspiring entrepreneurs and established businessmen alike. Suppliers and lessors usually require post-dated checks or PDC's to cover installment payments, and issuing checks are generally more convenient and safer than carrying huge amounts of cash. However, just like in any aspects of business, high vigilance is required. Check frauds are still prevalent. In many instances, the check you are holding, while valid, is worthless. Here are some reminders:

One of the major concerns of employers is labor, and it doesn’t matter if the employer is a big corporation with a Human Resources (HR) department or simply an entrepreneur/small and medium enterprise (SME). The employer hires, pays, manages, disciplines and fires employees. Problems inevitably arise in the process, and, based on the full-packed hallways that I regularly go through at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), these problems are not diminishing.

 

There are formal learning institutions dealing in all aspects of business. There are Big Businesses dominating the Philippine economy. Of course, there are Pinoys who are very lucky to have graduated from these prestigious institutions or worked for or with the Big Businesses.