MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued voluntary guidelines on how banks, e-wallet operators, and other supervised financial institutions should use artificial intelligence.
The guidelines, issued through Memorandum No. M-2026-031, lay down what the BSP calls its “minimum supervisory expectations” for the responsible use of AI. However, they are non-binding, meaning financial institutions are encouraged — but not expressly required — to adopt them.
AI is already a part of Filipinos’ everyday financial transactions, even when customers don’t immediately notice it.
Financial institutions can use AI to analyze payment and spending patterns, estimate whether a borrower is likely to repay a loan, verify a customer’s identity during an online application, recommend financial products, detect possible scams, and respond to concerns through chatbots.
In a 2024 BSP survey, 21 out of 48 responding financial institutions, or 44%, said they had already deployed at least one AI system, while 60% included AI or machine learning in their technology roadmaps.
