THE recent Bangladesh central-bank fiasco involving $81 million lost to cross-border bank heist will not derail the integration of the region’s financial system, a local bank economist said.
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) research officer Nicholas Antonio Mapa told the BusinessMirror the cybercrime will not necessarily affect the progress of the Asean Banking Integration Framework (Abif).
The Abif, which aims to liberalize the region’s banking market by 2020, is part of the Asean economic-community blueprint. The plan is to harmonize banking services in the region through bilateral and regional agreements.
What the recent heist will affect, according to Mapa, is the crafting of crucial rules and policies in Asean and in each member-country to prevent money laundering.
“I think the recent scandal will put more focus on antimoney laundering but will not necessarily affect the Abif. For sure, there will be a need for stricter guidelines and for laws in each country to be strengthened to be able to fend off such crimes,” Mapa said.
The integration of the global banking community has been evident in the Philippines, as more and more financial institutions are looking to invest and put up branches in the country following the sector’s liberalization.
Since the entry of foreign banks has been liberalized, the Philippines was able to attract six new foreign banks—two from Taiwan, two from South Korea, one from Japan and one from Singapore.
Central bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said earlier they expect more foreign banks to set up shop in the country.
Asked if the money-laundering scandal could affect the interest of foreign banks to operate in the Philippines, Mapa said it will not be as big a factor to their decisions as the issue tackles largely internal regulations of individual banks and not the entire banking system itself.
“The decision to come to the Philippines may be more in line with our ability to provide a good base for operation, and if the financial needs of the Philippines will be large enough to entice foreign parties to come over. Our robust growth will surely be a plus factor, but we are still very much behind our Asean peers in terms of financial sophistication,” Mapa said.
Earlier, French Ambassador to the Philippines Thierry Mathou told the BusinessMirror about the interest of French financial institutions to invest in the Philippine banking system.
With regard to the money-laundering scandal, he said that while it still has not come to an alarming point, he disclosed that they are “monitoring very closely” the situation in the Philippines, adding that solutions “have to be done” to plug loopholes in the country’s antimoney-laundering laws.
Image credits: AP