Section 3Sec./Art. 3

Definition of Terms. -As used in this Act:

(a)Financial consumerrefers to a person or entity, or their duly appointed representative, who is a purchaser, lessee, recipient, or prospective purchaser, lessee or recipient of financial products or services. It shall also refer to any person, natural or juridical, who had or has current or prospective financial transaction with a financial service provider pertaining to financial products or services;

(b)Financial consumer complaintrefers to an expression of dissatisfaction submitted by a financial consumer against a financial service provider relative to a financial product or service in which a response or resolution is expected;

(c)Financial product or servicerefers to financial products or services which are developed or marketed by a financial service provider which may include, but are not limited to, savings, deposits, credit, insurance, pre-need and health maintenance organization (HMO) products, securities, investments, payments, remittances and other similar products and services. This also includes digital financial products or services which pertain to the broad range of financial services accessed and delivered through digital channels;

(d)Financial regulatorsrefer to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Insurance Commission (IC), and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA);

(e)Financial service providerrefers to a person, natural or juridical, which provides financial products or services that are under the jurisdiction of financial regulators as defined in this Act. This term shall include Investment Advisers as defined under Section 7 of this Act;

(f)Investment fraudrefers to any form if deceptive solicitation of investments from the public. This includes Ponzi schemes and such other schemes involving the promise or offer of profits or returns which are sourced from the investments or contributions made by the investors themselves, boiling room operations, and the offering or selling of investment schemes to the public without a license or permit from the SEC, unless such offering or selling involves exempt securities or are considered as exempt transactions as provided for under existing laws;

(g)Market conductrefers to the manner by which a financial service provider designs and delivers its financial products or services and manages its relationships with its clients and the public;

(h)Marketingrefers to the act of communicating, offering, promoting, advertising, or delivering of financial products or services by financial service providers; and

(i)Responsible pricingrefers to the pricing, terms, and conditions of financial products and/or services that are set in a way that is both affordable to clients and sustainable for financial service providers by taking into account, among others, client needs and the pricing schemes of the competitors