Towards financial inclusion through digital financial services: Examining the impact of the ‘notice and consent’ privacy mechanism

• Main Author: Razon, Arvin Kristopher A.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Privacy, Right of—Philippines; Data protection—Law and legislation—Philippines; Financial services industry—Law and legislation—Philippines; Privacy Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/11348
• Institution: De La Salle University

As smartphone ownership and Internet penetration in the Philippines are among the highest in the world, the Philippines is well-positioned to leverage on digital financial services as a means of alleviating poverty. However, with the increasingly active implementation of the Philippine Data Privacy Act (‘DPA’), such potential may not be realised. The privacy regulator, the National Privacy Commission, has consistently set ‘notice and consent’ as the dominant mechanism for data processing in the delivery of digital financial services, directly replicating the European General Data Protection (‘GDPR’) standard. Such replication not only disrupts the delivery and development of digital financial services in developing countries, but also inherently conflicts with the use of Big Data for innovation. Financial inclusion may be better achieved through a test-and-learn, industry-based approach supervised by the central bank. Further, regulation must be designed in proportion to the consumer risks digital financial services pose.