October 22, 2020Please be advised that EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 21, 2020, the following Cooling-Off Provisions shall be implemented pursuant to BSP Circular No. 1048 “BSP Regulations on Financial Consumer Protection x x x and Amendments to the Manual of Regulations for Banks and Non-Bank Financial lnstitutions”. Clients who will enter into an agreement with the Bank to avail of a financial product with a term of at least one (1) year or a remaining term of at least one (1) year shall be eligible to avail of a cooling-off period. Only individual clients and Sole Proprietor clients whose aggregate placement is below Php500,000.00 are covered by the “cooling-off” period. Corporations and associations are not covered by this provision. An individual client is given two (2) banking days immediately following submission of any agreement or contract to notify the Bank to withdraw his investments or cancel his Time Deposit without penalty using a Letter of Cancellation. Upon termination of the Time Deposit (TD), the client will receive the contractual interest earned prior to termination net of taxes such as corresponding Withholding Tax (WHT), Documentary Stamp Tax (DST), and holding fee for foreign currency notes used as mode of investment. The proceeds of the cancelled TD will be credited to the client’s designated settlement account. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What is “cooling-off”? A: Cooling-off period is the right given to a consumer, who is a natural person, to cancel the agreement for a particular financial instrument availed. How is aggregate investment size determined? A: The aggregate investment size pertains to the total outstanding investment of the client covered by the cooling- off provision including the amount of placement that would make the total placements reach the Php500,000.00 threshold. Example: Time Deposit Placement Scenario: Client makes a placement of Php200,000 on February 15. She has 2 outstanding placements worth a total of Php400,000. Will her third placement still be covered by cooling-off? Outstanding Placements Date Amount (Pesos) January 5 100,000 January 30 300,000 Aggregate Investment as of Jan. 30 400,000 New Placement Remarks February 15 200,000 The third placement of Php200,000 is no longer covered by cooling-off because the aggregate investments already breached the Php500,000 threshold. Aggregate Investment as of Feb. 15 600,000 For further inquiries or clarifications, please call or visit your branch of account or any Bank of Commerce branch near you. Click here to view the complete list of our branches. Bank of Commerce is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. consumeraffairs@bsp.gov.ph Access BSP Online Buddy (BOB) through BSP Webchat http://www.bsp.gov.ph Send SMS to 021582277 for Globe subscribers, Or visit BSP Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BangkoSentralngPilipinas