Section 6Sec./Art. 6

Powers of the Financial Regulators. -Financial regulations under this Act shall have the following powers:

(a)Rulemaking. -Financial regulators shall have the authority to formulate their own standard and rules for the application of the provisions of this Act to specific financial products or services within their jurisdiction guided by internationally accepted standards and practices. Financial regulators may also determine reasonableness of interest charges or fees which a financial service provider may demand, collect, or receive for any service or product offered to a financial consumer. Likewise, they may issue their respective rules of procedure concerning administrative actions arising from the implementation of this Act.

(b)Market Conduct Surveillance and Examination. -Financial regulators may conduct surveillance and examination, on-site or off-site, on their respective financial service providers, consistent with their respective risk-based supervision policies, to ascertain that the provisions of this Act are complied with. The examination for financial consumer protection compliance may be conducted separately from examination of prudential regulations compliance. The provisions on the conduct of examination and surveillance provided in the respective charters of financial regulators, and pertinent special laws shall be made applicable in the examination and surveillance activities authorized under this Act.

The department heads and the examiners of the financial regulators shall be authorized to administer oaths to any director, officer, or employee of the supervised financial service providers subject to the examination of their marker conduct and compliance with this Act, and to compel the presentation of all books, documents, papers, or records in any form necessary in their judgment to ascertain compliance of financial service providers to this Act.

The supervised financial service provider shall afford to its respective financial regulator full opportunity to examine its records, and review its systems and procedures, at any time during business hours when requested to do so by the financial regulator.

(c)Market Monitoring. -Financial regulators shall have the authority to require their respective supervised financial service providers and their third party agents/service providers to submit reports or documents, as needed.

For purposes of market monitoring, the financial regulators may obtain relevant data about financial products, services and markets from other government agencies, which shall be duty-bound to furnish the same.

(d)Enforcement. -Financial regulators shall have the authority to impose enforcement actions on their respective supervised financial service providers for noncompliance with this Act and other existing laws pertinent to the jurisdiction and authority of the respective financial regulators. Such enforcement actions may include the following:

(1) Restriction on the ability of the supervised financial service provider to continue to collect excessive or unreasonable interests, fees or charges, including all other interests, fees and charges covered under Republic Act No. 10870, otherwise known as the "Philippine Credit Card Industry Regulation Law";

(2) Disqualification and/or suspension of directors, trustees, officers, or employees of the supervised financial service provider responsible for violations of the provisions of this Act, its implementing rules and regulations (IRR), or orders of the financial regulators;

(3) Imposition of fines, suspension, or penalties for any noncompliance with or breach of this Act, its IRR, or the orders of the financial regulators;

(4) Issuance of a cease and desist order to the financial service provider without the necessity of a prior hearing if in the financial regulator's judgment, the act or practice, unless restrained, amounts to fraud or a violation of the provisions of this Act and its IRR, or may unjustly cause grave or irreparable injury or prejudice to financial consumers. The financial service provider shall be afforded an opportunity to defend its act or practice in a summary hearing before the financial regulator or its designated body, upon request made by the financial service provider within five (5) calendar days from its receipt of the order. If no such hearing is requested within the said period, the order shall be final.

If a hearing is requested by the financial service provider, the proceedings shall be conducted summarily without adhering to the technical rules of evidence, and all issues shall be determined primarily on the basis of records, after which the financial regulator may either reconsider or finalize and execute its order;

(5) Suspension of operation of any supervised financial service provider in relation toa particular financial product or service when in the financial regulator's judgment, based on findings, the financial service provider is operating in violation of the provisions of this Act, and its IRR; and

(6) In any proceedings in which the financial regulators may impose a penalty for noncompliance with or breach of this Act and other existing laws under their jurisdiction, the financial regulators, in addition to the imposed fine, may enter an order requiring accounting and disgorgement of profits obtained, or losses avoided, as a result of a violation of this Act and other existing laws, including reasonable interest. The financial regulators are authorized to adopt rules, regulations, and orders concerning the creation and operation of a disgorgement fund, payment to financial consumers, rate of interest, period of accrual, and such other matters as deemed appropriate to implement this provision.

(e)Consumer Redress or Complaints Handling Mechanism. -Financial regulators shall provide efficient and effective consumer redress or complaints handling mechanism such as mediation, conciliation or other modes of alternative dispute resolution to address conflict/dissatisfaction from financial consumers arising from financial products or services. The financial consumer may avail of the mechanism prior to adjudication.

(f)Adjudication. -Financial regulators shall have the authority to adjudicate all actions as provided under existing laws.

The BSP and SEC shall have the authority to adjudicate actions arising from or in connection with financial transactions that are purely civil in nature, and the claim or relief prayed for by the financial consumer id solely for payment or reimbursement of sum of money not exceeding the amount of Ten million pesos (P10,000,000.00). The decision of the financial regulators in the adjudication shall be final and executory, and may not be restrained or set aside by the court except on petition forcertiorarion the ground of grave abuse of discretion, or lack or excess of jurisdiction of the financial regulators. The petition forcertiorarimay only be filed within ten (10) days from receipt by the aggrieved party of the decision:Provided,That in the case of BSP and SEC, the aggrieved party may file the petition with the Court of Appeals.

The adjudicatory power shall be exercised by the Head of the concerned financial regulator or a duly authorized officer or body:Provided,That in the case of BSP and SEC, the decision of the authorized officer or body is not appealable to the Monetary Board or to the Commissionen banc,respectively.

The BSP and SEC may order the payment or reimbursement of money which is subject to the action filed before them. In the exercise of their adjudicatory powers, they shall have the power to issuesubpoena duces tecumand summon witnesses to appear in their proceedings and when appropriate, order the examination, search and seizure of all documents, and books of accounts of any entity or person under investigation as may be necessary for the proper disposition of the cases before them. Further, the BSP and SEC shall have the authority to punish for contempt, both directly and indirectly, in accordance with the pertinent provisions of and penalties prescribed by the Rules of Court.

(g)Other Powers. -Financial regulators may exercise such other powers as may be provided by their enabling laws or charters as well as those which may be implied from, or which are necessary or incidental to the carrying out of, the express powers granted to the financial regulators to achieve the objectives and purposes of these laws.