Shares rise as BSP keeps rates unchanged

September 24, 2021 | 5:51 pm

PSE Trading Floor — COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE, INC.

LOCAL shares ended higher on Friday as the country’s central bank kept interest rates at a record low and as US markets performed strongly, analysts said.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 36.25 points or 0.52% to close at 6,951.53 while the broader all shares index increased 21.14 points or 0.49% to 4,323.64.

Darren Blaine T. Pangan, a trader at Timson Securities, Inc., said in a mobile phone message that the market ended higher as investors digested the move of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to keep interest rates unchanged.

BSP announced on Thursday that the key rate would be kept at 2%, while overnight deposit and lending rates would stay at 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, as part of efforts to boost the national economy amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Together with appropriate fiscal and health interventions, keeping a steady hand on the BSP’s policy levers will allow the momentum of economic recovery to gain more traction by helping boost domestic demand and market confidence,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said in an online news briefing Thursday.

For Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, the market closed higher due to a spillover from the performance of US markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Thursday by 506.50 points or 1.48% to 34,764.82; the S&P 500 increased 53.34 points or 1.21% to 4,448.98; and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 155.40 points or 1.04% to 15,052.25.

“Hopes on the further easing of social restrictions in the country amid our improving COVID-19 situation also gave a boost to positive sentiment,” Mr. Tantiangco said in a mobile phone message.

He said AC Energy Corp. led the index gainers, jumping 4.65% to P11.70, while Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. was at the tail end, falling 2.16% to P52.00.

On Friday, holding firms’ sectoral index was the only one that ended lower, at

13.62 points or 0.19% to 6,921.95.

In contrast, property went up 34.54 points or 1.14% to 3,055.31; financials gained 13.85 points or 0.98% to 1,426.79; services improved 15.95 points or 0.83% to 1,923.46; mining and oil climbed 76.82 points or 0.82% to 9,436.54; and industrials inched up 23.42 points or 0.22% to 10,259.43.

Value turnover on Friday reached P8.95 billion with 2.11 billion issues switching hands, higher than the P6.48 billion with 1.59 billion issues traded the previous day.

Net foreign selling amounted to P352.05 million, higher than the P294.27 million in net outflows recorded on Thursday.

Advancers beat decliners, 103 against 79, while 67 names ended unchanged.

“As the index hovers around its immediate resistance at the 7,000 area, we’ll have to observe next week if this level would finally be breached. Otherwise, 6,780 seems to be the nearest support area,” Mr. Pangan said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Twitter announces monetization features, including crypto tips

September 24, 2021 | 5:16 pm

Twitter is rolling out a Tips feature that lets users send and receive one-time payments using third-party services, it announced on Sept. 23.

The social media platform is also adding recording and replay functions to Spaces (live audio conversations on Twitter); Super Follows, which allows creators with large followings to earn an income; and a safety mode for auto-blocking accounts similar to the ones users have already blocked.

“Our first purpose is to serve the public conversation,” said Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s head of consumer product, at the virtual event. “Public conversation is important because it helps people learn, solve problems, and realize that we’re all in this together.”

TIPS

Tips lets users worldwide send and receive one-time payments using third-party services such as Venmo, Patreon, and GoFundMe. Users in the US and El Salvador can also give and receive Bitcoin tips through Strike, a payments application built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. An account has turned on Tips if a paper money icon can be seen next to the Follow button on the profile page.

“Twitter wants everyone to have access to pathways to get paid,” said product lead for creator monetization Esther Crawford. “Digital currencies that allow more people to participate in the economy, across borders, and with as little friction as possible, help us get there.”

Tips is available worldwide on iOS, with Android coming soon.

SUPER FOLLOWS

Creators with devoted followings will be provided an outlet to “turn followers into fans, and fans into funds” through Super Follows, which is being tested in a small group of creators on iOS in the US.

“We see a huge opportunity [for these creators] to earn additional income directly from people who appreciate and value their content the most,” Mr. Beykpour said.

Through Super Follows, a monthly subscription service, creators can charge for exclusive access to content such as behind-the-scenes thoughts and private conversations; newsletters will likewise be pushed forward for writers to gain a following.

SPACES

Recording and replays of Spaces, a feature that allows users to have live audio conversations on the platform, will be available soon. Ticketed Spaces is also being rolled out to give hosts the option of setting prices and audience size to get compensated for the experiences they create.

“Different people want to talk in different ways,” Ms. Crawford said. “We want to enable everyone on Twitter to express themselves however they feel most comfortable. We need to expand expression beyond 280 characters.”

Spaces has been used by actors to answer questions from fans and by reporters recapping the latest news stories. It’s also been used for talent shows featuring aspiring singers.

COMMUNITIES

Users with similar interests can congregate on Twitter Communities. Tweets can be sent directly to community members, although these will still be publicly visible. Available on iOS and the web, users can apply to create and moderate their own community, but can’t currently join one unless invited by a moderator or another member.

Communities are being tested around popular topics such as dogs, weather, sneakers, skincare, and astrology, according to a recent blog post by Twitter staff product manager David Regan.

SAFETY MODE

The Safety Mode feature decentralizes controls and auto-block accounts similar to the ones users have already blocked. The feature is being tested on a small group on iOS, Android, and Twitter.com, beginning with accounts that have English-language settings enabled.

“People are only going to talk on Twitter if they feel comfortable doing so,” Mr. Beykpour said. “One way we enable this is by empowering people to control who they want to hear from and talk to, and on what terms.”

Other safety features in the pipeline are word filters so users can remove unwanted speech in their replies, and prompts that allow users to know who are in a particular discussion so they can decide whether they want to jump in or not. — Patricia B. Mirasol

South Korea reports record daily COVID-19 cases; planning how to live with COVID-19

September 24, 2021 | 3:55 pm

SEOUL — South Korea has set a record for daily coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases at 2,434, breaking the previous record set last month, as the country grapples with a wave of infections that began in early July, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Friday.

The mortality rate and severe cases remain relatively low and steady at 0.82% and 309, respectively, helped largely by vaccinations that prioritised older people at high risk of severe COVID-19, KDCA said when reporting figures for Thursday.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum stressed the need for virus-prevention rules to be stricter as adherence could have been lax during this week’s three-day holiday.

“If prevention measures are not managed stably, the gradual recovery to normal life will inevitably be delayed,” Mr. Kim told Friday’s COVID-19 response meeting.

Authorities have advised people returning from holiday to be tested even for the mildest COVID-19-type symptoms, especially before going to work.

The daily caseloads may continue to surge and peak by next week as more people get tested after the break, Lee Ki-il, deputy minister of health care policy, told a briefing.

The government is drawing up a plan on how to live more normally with COVID-19, expecting 80% of adults to be fully vaccinated by late October. The strategy will be implemented in phases to gradually ease restrictions, while masks will still be required at least in the initial stage.

Although the strategy will not immediately lift all prevention measures, South Korea — which struggled to get vaccine supplies initially — was now in a more comfortable position for the transition, President Moon Jae-in told reporters aboard South Korea’s presidential jet on Friday.

“There is no problem at all with the amount of vaccines secured for this year,” Mr. Moon said. “The vaccine shipment got off to a slower start than other countries, which delayed the vaccination program, but I believe by next month, we will catch up and be a leading country by inoculation rate.”

South Korea this week said it would donate more than 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam next month in what would be the country’s first direct cross-border sharing of its vaccine stockpile.

South Korea will remain under tough social-distancing curbs through Oct. 3, which includes limited operating hours for cafes and restaurants and limiting the number of people allowed at social gatherings to two people after 6 p.m. in Seoul.

Thursday’s new cases brings total infections to 295,132, with 2,434 deaths.

South Korea has given 72.3% of its 52 million population at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine through Thursday, and has fully inoculated nearly 44%. — Sangmi Cha/Reuters

North Korea says open to talks if South drops double standards

September 24, 2021 | 3:03 pm

SEOUL — South Korea’s call for a formal end to the Korean War is premature but the door for dialogue is open if it scraps its double standards and hostile policy, a senior North Korean official said in comments published by state media on Friday.

The 1950–53 Korean War ended with an armistice not a peace treaty, leaving US-led UN forces technically still at war with North Korea. The question of formally ending the war has become caught up in a US-led effort to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

South Korea President Moon Jae-in repeated a call for a formal end to the war in an address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Senior North Korean official Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said Mr. Moon’s proposal was “interesting and admirable” but conditions were not right because of South Korea’s persistent double standards, prejudice and hostility.

“Under such a situation it does not make any sense to declare the end of the war with all the things, which may become a seed of a war between parties that have been at odds for more than half a century, left intact,” Ms. Kim said in a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

South Korea should change its attitude and foster the conditions for a meaningful discussion on ways to end the conflict and improve ties, she said.

“What needs to be dropped is the double-dealing attitudes, illogical prejudice, bad habits and hostile stand of justifying their own acts while faulting our just exercise of the right to self-defense,” Ms. Kim said.

“Only when such a precondition is met, would it be possible to sit face to face and declare the significant termination of war and discuss the issue of the north-south relations and the future of the Korean peninsula.”

North Korea has for decades been seeking an end to the war but the United States has been reluctant to agree unless North Korea gave up its nuclear weapons.

TALKS STALLED

Expectations were raised that a declaration on ending the war, even if not an actual treaty, would be made during a historic summit between then US President Donald J. Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un in Singapore in 2018.

But that possibility, and the momentum on talks that those two leaders generated over three meetings, came to nothing. Talks have been stalled since 2019.

Mr. Moon, a liberal who has made improving ties with North Korea a priority, sees ending the war as a way to nudge forward the effort to press North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals in return for US sanctions relief.

But his call looks unlikely to break the deadlock.

He said on Friday he was confident North Korea would eventually see it was in its interests to reopen dialogue with the United States but he was not certain if that would come before his term ends next year.

“It seems that North Korea is still weighing options while keeping the door open for talks, since it is only raising tension at a low level, just enough for the US to not break off all contact,” he told reporters on his way home from New York.

US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., said in his own UN address that he wanted “sustained diplomacy” to resolve the crisis surrounding North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea has rejected US overtures to engage in dialogue and the head of the UN atomic watchdog said this week that its nuclear program was going “full steam ahead.”

North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae Song said on KCNA earlier that the United States should withdraw its “double-standards and hostile policy” to break the deadlock. — Sangmi Cha and Hyonhee Shin/Reuters

TikTok Collaborates with the Department of Tourism for locally driven #GandaMoPinas campaign

September 24, 2021 | 2:15 pm

TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile video, collaborated with the Department of Tourism (DOT) in an effort to elevate local livestream content through the #GandaMoPinas campaign. The campaign spotlights creators from around the country who will promote their region through TikTok Live and explain how each place showcases the beauty of the Philippines.

During their live sessions, each creator will share more about their province, highlighting its natural landscape, top tourist spots and activities, best cuisine, as well as local products. These creators will encourage their viewers to help share more of the Philippines’ beauty to travellers missing the islands and for them to visit when it’s safe to do so. All that is needed is to tag the DOT in their own entertaining and engaging content featuring their provinces, and following the official TikTok account of the DOT to discover more local destinations to fall in love with.

Nine creators from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were shortlisted by the DOT and TikTok as local representatives to participate in the campaign. These creators were each tasked to share a short video inviting their followers to watch their #GandaMoPinas live sessions on TikTok. They will then go live on TikTok for one hour each, between September 22 and 30, 2021.

Once all nine creators have completed their livestreams, a winner from each area will be bestowed the honour of the ‘TikTok Funfluencers’, based on their number of viewers. Winners also will receive selected merchandise and support from TikTok and the DOT.

The #GandaMoPinas campaign is only the first of many planned partnerships between TikTok and various local departments in the Philippines. Through these initiatives, TikTok hopes to produce more high-quality, relevant livestream content among local creators on the platform.

Catch the #GandaMoPinas live sessions on TikTok from September 22 to 30, 2021! Download the app on your iOS and Android devices to get started.

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Taiwan blasts ‘arch criminal’ China for Pacific trade pact threats

September 24, 2021 | 2:08 pm

TAIPEI — China is an “arch criminal” intent on bullying Taiwan and has no right to oppose or comment on its bid to join a pan-Pacific trade pact, Taiwan’s government said in an escalating war of words over Taipei and Beijing’s decision to apply.

Chinese-claimed Taiwan said on Wednesday it had formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), less than a week after China submitted its application.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it opposed Taiwan “entering into any official treaty or organization”, and on Thursday Taiwan said China sent 24 military aircraft into the island’s air defense zone, part of what Taipei says is an almost daily pattern of harassment.

In a statement late on Thursday, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said China had “no right to speak” about Taiwan’s bid.

“The Chinese government only wants to bully Taiwan in the international community, and is the arch criminal in increased hostility across the Taiwan Strait,” it said.

China is not a member of the CPTPP and its trade system has been widely questioned globally for not meeting the high standards of the bloc, the ministry added.

China sent its air force to menace Taiwan shortly after the application announcement, it said.

“This pattern of behavior could only come from China,” it said.

In a statement also issued late Thursday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said China’s entry into the CPTPP would benefit the post-pandemic global economic recovery.

China opposes Taiwan using trade to push its “international space” or engage in independence activities, it added.

“We hope relevant countries appropriately handle Taiwan related matters and not give convenience or provide a platform for Taiwan independence activities,” it said.

The original 12-member agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), was seen as an important economic counterweight to China’s growing influence.

But the TPP was thrown into limbo in early 2017 when then-US President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States.

The grouping, which was renamed the CPTPP, links Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. — Reuters

Quad leaders to deliver on vaccines, infrastructure, tech — US official

September 24, 2021 | 1:13 pm

White-House — Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

WASHINGTON — A first in-person meeting of the leaders of the Quad group of countries — the United States, Japan, Australia, and India — on Friday will yield progress in several areas including infrastructure, health, and cyber, a senior US administration official told Reuters.

The Quad leaders — US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison — will also discuss regional security, the official said on Thursday, although he stressed that security was not the focus of the informal grouping that has come together in response to China’s growing power.

While declining to provide specifics, the official, who did not want to be identified, said the summit at the White House “will have much to say” about next steps on vaccines for the Indo-Pacific region.

“We have what we call deliverables in infrastructure, on broader health engagements on science and technology on the space, on cyber,” he said.

He called a commitment made at a virtual meeting of the Quad leaders in March to supply a billion coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) shots across Asia by the end of 2022 “important.”

“Obviously, there have been challenges in India over the course of the summer. But … we believe that it will be important to meet the ambitions that we laid out at that time.”

The March initiative stalled after India, the world’s biggest vaccine producer, was hit by a devastating surge of infections and halted all vaccine exports.

India has since said it is ready to restart vaccine exports in the October quarter, prioritizing the COVAX international vaccine initiative and neighboring countries first.

The meeting of the Quad comes just over a week after the United States, Britain and Australia announced a security pact dubbed AUKUS that will help Australia acquire US nuclear-powered submarines, a move immediately denounced by China.

The US official called Friday’s meeting “historic,” and an opportunity for the four leaders to talk openly about “modern challenges, their hopes and aspirations.”

“We’ll talk about a variety of things, including regional security, but we’ll also talk about our goals on education, on infrastructure,” he said.

“The linking and thickening of ties between our four countries is taking place before our eyes,” he said. “What we are really trying to do is create an opportunity for more free-flowing discussion.”

At the same time, he added, when asked how the Quad might relate to the AUKUS partnership: “This is a standalone grouping and has nothing to do with the recently inaugurated AUKUS. This is an informal grouping. It does not address security issues.”

Citing a draft of a joint summit statement, Japan’s Nikkei business reported last week that the leaders are also expected to agree to take steps to build secure semiconductor supply chains, a key area of competition with China.

The official said Mr. Biden would announce on Friday an “elite” privately funded Quad fellowship program for 100 students — 25 from each of the four countries — to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) masters and doctoral programs in the United States.

Comparing it to Britain’s Rhodes scholarship program, the official said the fellowship would be administered by the Schmidt Futures philanthropic initiative, founded by former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt.

“It will really seek to tie our countries together for the long haul by connecting our young people, and they’ll have a sense of purpose, and a sense that the Quad is indeed a unique and important grouping,” he said.

CEO Eric Braverman said in a statement that Schmidt Futures was “honored” to lead the Quad fellowship.

China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and said the AUKUS alliance would intensify an arms race in the region.

The US official rejected Beijing’s concerns, and pointed out that China in recent decades has undergone one of the most rapid military expansions in history.

“We’ve seen dramatic steps on China’s military buildup over the course of the last couple of decades and much of that has triggered some anxiety in the region,” the official said. — David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina/Reuters

‘Death sentence’: low-lying nations implore faster action on climate at UN

September 24, 2021 | 12:56 pm

UNITED NATIONS — Faced with what they see as an existential threat, leaders from low-lying and island nations implored rich countries at the United Nations General Assembly this week to act more forcefully against a warming planet.

The failure by developed economies to effectively curb their greenhouse gas emissions contributes to rising sea levels and especially imperils island and low-lying nations at the mercy of water.

“We simply have no higher ground to cede,” Marshall Islands President David Kabua told leaders in a pre-recorded speech at the high-level gathering on Wednesday. “The world simply cannot delay climate ambition any further.”

Countries agreed under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the threshold scientists say would head off the worst impacts of warming. To do that, scientists say, the world needs to cut global emissions in half by 2030, and to net-zero by 2050.

“The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees is a death sentence for the Maldives,” President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih told world leaders on Tuesday.

Guyana President Irfaan Ali criticized large polluters for not delivering on promises to curb emissions, accusing them of “deception” and “failure” and warning that climate change will kill far more people than the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We hold out similar hope that the world’s worst emitters of greenhouse gases that are affecting the welfare of all mankind will also come to the realization that, in the end, it will profit them little to emerge king over a world of dust,” Mr. Ali told world leaders on Thursday.

He said small island states and countries with low-lying coastlines, like Guyana, will bear the full brunt of the impending disaster despite being among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases.

“This is not only unfair, it is unjust,” he said.

Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said there had been a “sense of existential crisis” running through the annual gathering at the United Nations.

“Both Beijing and Washington want to show they are leading the fight against global warming. If the small islands’ leaders can’t get people to listen at this General Assembly, they never will,” Mr, Gowan said.

US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., said on Tuesday he would work with Congress to double funds by 2024 to $11.4 billion per year to help developing nations deal with climate change.

The funding would help achieve a global goal set more than a decade ago of $100 billion per year to support climate action in vulnerable countries by 2020.

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to stop building coal-fired power plants overseas, a move widely welcomed.

‘WE MUST ACT NOW’

Messrs. Biden and Xi made their commitments less than six weeks before the Oct. 31–Nov. 12 COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said runs the risk of failure over mistrust between rich and poor countries.

President Chan Santokhi of Suriname, where much of the coastal area is low-lying, called for “ambitious and actionable commitments” to be made at COP26, urging developed countries to recommit to the $100 billion per year.

Mr. Santokhi said that ideals and political commitments do not mean much if not supported by new financial resources.

“In the case of my country, Suriname, and the countries with low-lying coastal areas, we are committed to fighting climate change because we are particularly vulnerable even though we have contributed the least to this problem,” he told the General Assembly.

The Pacific archipelago nation of Palau warned the world is running out of time.

“Simply put, we must act now to ensure our children inherit a healthy and reliable future. We need to act now before further irreparable damage is made to our planet,” Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr., said at the gathering.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is preparing to host COP26, on Wednesday called on world leaders to make the necessary commitments and a collective pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

He warned that, on the current track, temperatures will go up by 2.7 degrees Celsius or more by the end of the century.

“Nevermind what that will do to the ice floes, dissolving like ice in your martini here in New York,” Mr. Johnson said. “We will see desertification, drought, crop failure and mass movements of humanity on a scale not seen before, not because of some unforeseen natural event or disaster, but because of us, because of what we are doing now.” — Daphne Psaledakis and Michelle Nichols/Reuters

StackLeague Playoffs and Treasure Chest Teams now open

September 24, 2021 | 10:00 am

StackLeague is now gathering over 6,000 developers, software engineers and programmers all across the Philippines who share the same interest in competing while also improving their programming skills.

As the Philippine’s 1st Year-Round Programming League, StackLeague does not only reward the top contenders with over Php 300,000 cash prize pool, national recognition and thousands of giveaways but also offers participants access to tech jobs and exclusive career opportunities.

StackLeague Playoffs

A single-elimination tournament featuring all monthly qualifiers wherein all weekly Top 10 StackLeague participants will automatically be invited to the monthly qualifier rounds. Learn more at https://bit.ly/stackleagueplayoffs.

Treasure Chest: Team Category

Compete with a team of 3 to 5 members and share your success and prizes. The total points of the team is the sum of all individual points earned by each member. Learn more at https://bit.ly/stackleagueteamtreasurechest.

Be part of the StackLeague

Dare to be challenged? Make your mark and join the league now! Sign up now via https://bit.ly/stackleaguesparkup.

StackLeague is co-presented by Jobstreet Philippines and supported by Gold Sponsors Microsoft, Workbank and Rakuten Viber, Silver Sponsors AWS and Kalibrr, Bronze Sponsor Accenture and Media Partners Inquirer.net, Pop!, GeekyFaust, Swirling Over Coffee, Back End News and Hustleshare.

Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.

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Battling fraud — An evil in our digital world

September 24, 2021 | 8:00 am

Insights to Inspire aims to spark ideas that empower businesses to pursue bigger goals through data and information. Read our insights on current issues and learn new ways to make an impact in your industry.

Fraud is an unintended consequence of our increasingly digital world. With the steep rise in digital transactions after COVID-19 hit, we’ve also seen the prevalence of digital fraud attempts on businesses and consumers alike. Fraudsters simply tend to shift their focus every once in a while, seeking out industries that may be seeing immense growth in transactions.

In our newest quarterly analysis, we found that the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts rose 16.5% globally across industries when comparing Q2 2021 to Q2 2020. Gaming, and travel and leisure were the two most impacted industries globally, rising 393.0% and 155.9% in the last year, respectively. In the Philippines, this rate rose 51.38% for gaming and 198.50% for travel and leisure.

The pandemic was a driver for both these trends. In the second quarter, countries began to open up more from their lockdowns, pushing travel and other leisure activities to the mainstream, which in turn made it a top target for fraudsters. Gaming, meanwhile, enjoyed a spike in user engagement and spending in the past year as a popular activity while observing social distancing.

Indeed, history has shown that fraudsters exploit major crisis events to carry out their schemes, reveling in people’s vulnerability when it is most chaotic. These days, COVID-19-related digital fraud attempts abound enough that approximately 48% of Philippine respondents in our latest Consumer Pulse study reported they were targeted. Phishing is the top type of such fraud, impacting 40% of Philippine consumers who stated they were targeted, followed by third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail websites at 29%.

Like the virus plaguing the world today, fraud is damaging our financial systems and hampering what should have been our progress at economic recovery. Yet, as technology provided us a lifeline in isolation, technology is also helping us through this ordeal. Businesses must invest in fraud prevention technologies as they are critical in making trust possible between businesses and consumers, effectively empowering them to transact with confidence in the digital world.

We have a holistic fraud solution in the Philippines that can link TransUnion data, personal data, device identifiers, and online behaviors from billions of confirmed devices and transactions. This technology can identify devices with evasive behaviors, risky attributes, or a history of fraud as soon as they connect with a site or app and can react quickly to changing fraud patterns.

Fraudsters can no longer hide behind anonymity on the internet as advanced insights and our global network of confirmed fraud reports enable proactive businesses to discover their vulnerabilities and manage risk. When employed correctly and at the right time, it can even help prevent cross-border fraud.

Key to fraud prevention is identity proofing

The cost of fraud goes beyond financial losses; oftentimes, the reputational damage it comes with takes longer and is harder to recover. To avoid this altogether, reinforcing fraud prevention strategies with identity proofing technologies can help stop fraud in its tracks.

Identity proofing technologies essentially work by comparing consumer-provided information — for instance, during onboarding — against a database of personal and digital data. This helps businesses ensure the integrity of submitted IDs and, in the case of existing accounts, be able to verify whether attempted logins are by the rightful owner, ultimately enabling businesses to discern genuine users to engage from fraudsters to evade.

With the rising demand for digital services in almost every industry, businesses have to keep up to thrive and grow. Along with providing a seamless onboarding experience that creates a positive impression from the start and builds customer trust, businesses are expected to outsmart fraudsters and their ever-evolving schemes.

Remember that customers extend their trust every single time they click “Confirm”. As digital transactions are carried out 24/7, what stakeholders decide to do about the threat of fraud will ultimately spell the difference between success and failure in the digital transformation journey.

Pia Arellano is a seasoned financial services leader with over 25 years of industry experience across banking, payment solutions, telecommunications, and remittance services. She is instrumental in establishing TransUnion as a risk management and data solutions and insights partner of financial institutions in the Philippines.

For questions, email tuphcomms@transunion.com.

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BSP holds key rate to boost recovery

September 24, 2021 | 12:34 am

By Luz Wendy T. Noble, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINE central bank kept the benchmark policy rate at a record low on Thursday, as it tries to boost an economy battered by coronavirus lockdowns, while expecting consumer prices to rise faster in the coming years due to low supply.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) left the key rate at 2%, as predicted by 17 of 18 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week. Overnight deposit and lending rates were also kept at 1.5% and 2.5%.

“Together with appropriate fiscal and health interventions, keeping a steady hand on the BSP’s policy levers will allow the momentum of economic recovery to gain more traction by helping boost domestic demand and market confidence,” central bank Governor Benjamin E. Diokno told an online news briefing.

“The acceleration of the government’s vaccination program and a recalibration of existing quarantine protocols will be crucial in supporting economic activity while safeguarding public health and welfare,” he added.

Mr. Diokno said the outlook for recovery continues to hinge on timely measures to prevent deeper negative effects on the Philippine economy.

The economy grew by 11.8% year on year in the second quarter, ending a recession after five straight quarters of decline.

In August, Metro Manila and nearby provinces were again placed under the strictest lockdown level for two weeks amid a fresh surge in infections caused by a more contagious Delta variant, forcing the government to cut its full-year growth target to 4-5% from 6-7%.

The National Economic and Development Authority this week said the economic cost of the pandemic could reach P41 trillion in the next four decades, with the pre-pandemic growth trend unlikely to come by until after a decade.

The BSP would probably keep policy rates steady until the end of next year amid expectations of elevated inflation in the coming months and weak economic recovery, Pantheon Macroeconomics Senior Asia Economist Miguel Chanco said in a note.

It might keep an accommodative stance because economic recovery remains fragile, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. said in a Viber message.

“An important risk to consider is any premature tightening of monetary policy that could jeopardize the fragile economic recovery prospects,” he said.

The central bank raised its inflation outlook due to low supply. “Supply-side shocks tend to be best addressed through timely nonmonetary policy interventions that could ease domestic supply constraints,” central bank Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said at the briefing.

The BSP expects inflation to hit 4.4% this year, higher than the 4.1% estimate it gave last month. Inflation estimates for 2022 and 2023 were also raised to 3.3% and 3.2%, from a 3.1% forecast for both.

Mr. Dakila said inflation in September could hit 5% due to higher prices of basic goods and increasing oil prices and electricity rates.

Last month, the consumer prices rose by 4.9% — the fastest since December 2018 — amid rising food prices due to recent typhoons.

The central bank expects inflation to remain elevated this year, before landing within the target in the next two years. Inflation in the eight months through August was above target at 4.4%.

“The potential effects of weather disturbances and a possible prolonged recovery from the African Swine Fever outbreak could also continue to lend upside pressures on prices,” Mr. Diokno said.

Downside risks include the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants that could spur more lockdowns and hurt prospects for global growth and domestic demand, he added.

The central bank has two more policy meetings this year, set for Nov. 18 and Dec. 16.

August deficit balloons on pandemic subsidies

September 24, 2021 | 12:33 am

By Beatrice M. Laforga, Reporter

THE NATIONAL Government’s budget deficit tripled to P120.9 billion in August from a year earlier after public spending surged due to subsidies, outpacing a muted rise in revenue amid a coronavirus pandemic, according to the Treasury bureau.

Preliminary data released on Thursday showed last month’s fiscal gap was the least in four months and smaller than P121.2 billion in July.

The government incurs a deficit when it spends more than the money it makes to fund programs that will boost economic growth, especially infrastructure projects. It borrows from foreign and local sources to plug this gap.

Government spending rose by 34.2% from a year earlier to P380.2 billion in August, higher than P377.3 billion in July and the second-biggest annual increase this year after a 37% spike in February.

The Treasury bureau traced the increased spending to pandemic-related expenses such as the P15-billion emergency cash aid given to poor families in Metro Manila, Laguna and Bataan when the cities were placed under a strict lockdown for two weeks.

Subsidy releases to state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) worth P30.6 billion also drove government spending up.

Of the total, primary spending — spending minus interest payments — climbed by 36.6% from a year earlier to P356.3 billion. Interest payments also went up by 6% year on year to P23.9 billion.

Meanwhile, state revenue rose by 7% to P259 billion in August due to bigger tax collections and income from nontax sources.

Tax revenue went up by 3.1% year on year to P240.6 billion. Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) tax collections fell by 1% to P186.1 billion that month, while Bureau of Customs collections increased by a fifth to P53.4 billion.

Coronavirus lockdowns could have slowed company sales, leading to lower tax collections, Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. said in an e-mail.

Other tax-generating offices posted higher collections last month, with total income rising by 11.5% to P1.2 billion.

Income from other nontax sources also rose by 34% from a year ago to P380.2 billion, with Treasury bureau profit more than doubling to P4.7 billion after agencies returned unused stimulus funds to the national Treasury.

Nontax collections from other offices, which include fees and charges, as well as privatization proceeds, also jumped by 78.8% year on year to P13.9 billion.

The budget shortfall ballooned by 20.4% to P958.2 billion in the eight months to August, the Treasury bureau said.

The eight-month total was half of the P1.856-trillion budget deficit ceiling economic managers had set for the entire year, which was equivalent to 9.3% of economic output.

Overall spending went up by 11% to P2.96 trillion as of end-August, accounting for 63% of this year’s P4.7-trillion disbursement plan.

State revenue growth remained muted, inching up by 3.87% to P2.005 trillion from a year ago, tempered by lower nontax income.

Tax collections, which made up 91% of the total, rose by 9.2% to P1.82 trillion from a year earlier, as BIR’s income went up by 6.6% to P1.39 trillion and Customs revenues increased by 18.7% to P412.3 billion.

“Since government spending depends substantially on tax revenues, muted growth in tax collections can dull government efforts to pump-prime the economy and accelerate economic growth,” Cid L. Terosa, a senior economist at University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics said in an e-mailed reply to questions.

The Treasury said the BIR must collect an average of P173 billion a month to hit its P2.081-trillion target for the year. Customs needs to raise P51.1 billion monthly in the next four months to hit its P620-billion goal.

Collections of other tax-generating offices rose by 19% to P12.9 billion at the end of August.

Meanwhile, nontax income fell by 29% to P191.8 billion in those eight months mainly due to a 48% drop in Treasury income to P100 billion. Revenue at other offices rose by a fifth to P91.9 billion.

Economists expect the budget shortfall to continue to widen in the remaining four months of the year as the government tries to pump-prime the economy.

“With economic recovery remaining tentative, accelerated government spending will help energize economic activities,” Mr. Terosa said.

Mr. Asuncion said faster public spending is key to stimulating economic activity especially during crises. “However, it is still private consumption and spending that will have to carry the heavy lifting of economic expansion.”

The government should not overly rely on external loans in plugging the budget gap since it could burden the economy, Mr. Terosa said.

State gross borrowings rose by 22% to P2.27 trillion at the end of July. About 81% of the new debts were raised in the local market.