BSP Pushes Banks to Leverage AI Against Cyber Threats

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is urging financial institutions to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen their cybersecurity, warning that cybercriminals are increasingly using the same technology to identify vulnerabilities, automate attacks, and carry them out more quickly and on a larger scale. Under Memorandum No. M-2026-034, the central bank encouraged BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) to adopt AI-powered cybersecurity tools to help detect threats, monitor systems, and respond to cyberattacks more quickly. It also calls on institutions to maintain an updated inventory of digital assets and systems, strengthen security controls such as multi-factor authentication, and “proactively” address system vulnerabilities such as unnecessary internet exposure. “They are intended to complement and strengthen existing risk management and control measures, thereby ensuring that emerging risks are effectively identified, assessed, and mitigated,” the memorandum read. The memorandum also calls on institutions to formally develop their own AI Governance Framework proportionate to the nature, extent, scale, complexity, and materiality of their AI systems, as well as their overall operational complexity and risk profile. The BSP earlier issued Memorandum No. M-2026-031, which provides governance principles for BSFIs adopting AI. The framework promotes the responsible and ethical use of AI through five principles — sustainability, transparency, accountability, responsibility, and security (STARS). "AI is spreading across BSFI operations, and STARS provides them with principles that can help them innovate while mitigating unintended consequences from the use of the technology," BSP Deputy Governor Lyn Javier said. "We want BSFIs to take advantage of AI, especially to better serve their customers, while being guided by evolving global standards," she added. —VBL, GMA News