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SEN.
Edgardo Angara is pushing for early approval of a bill
amending the charter of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,
saying the remedial legislation aims to “strengthen its
regulatory and supervisory powers over banks and other
financial institutions.”
Angara,
who chairs the Committee on Banks, said the bill will
facilitate BSP enforcement of “international best
practices in banking supervision and [also enable it to]
better regulate the local financial sector.”
He said
the bill proposes to give the BSP authority to request
data not only from government entities but also from
other private sources. It would also enable the BSP to
evaluate and determine the financial condition, not only
of the parent institution under its supervision but also
of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
The BSP
shall also have the authority to approve transfers or
acquisitions of shares in a supervised institution,
where such transfer or acquisition or series of
transfers or acquisitions should be sufficient to elect
at least one seat in the board or would effect a change
in the majority ownership or control of the voting stock
of the institution.
In
addition, the monetary board shall have the authority to
direct existing stockholders to infuse additional
capital or in case of their inability or refusal, to
direct them to accept new investors or merge or
consolidate with a qualified financial institution.
The
senator said the bill also seeks to prescribe additional
and transparent grounds for bank-closure announcement of
unilateral closure, suspension of payment of deposit
substitutes, or inability to pay liabilities as they
become due to enable the Philippine Deposit Insurance
Corp. to recover their payments of insured deposits.
“If we
allow Bangko Sentral to provide policy directions in
areas of money, banking and credit, the transparent
mechanisms—especially for money remittances from our
OFWs—can be established. In effect, these mechanisms
would largely prevent an unfavorable impact on the
peso,”
Angara said in a statement over the weekend.
He cited
a joint report of the United Nations International Fund
for Agricultural Development and the Inter-American
Development Bank, where the Philippines ranked as the
fourth-biggest collector of money transferred by
overseas workers after receiving $14.65 billion last
year.
But he
also noted an Asian Development Bank study indicating
there are about 424, 812 remitters who coursed
remittances through informal systems and padala
practices amounting to $1.5 billion per year. “OFWs
still prefer to send remittances through informal
channels rather than through commercial banks, believing
that these unregulated money-transfer agencies offer the
best rates and will provide lower remittance costs,” he
added. |
