THE Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) has welcomed the cross-selling of financial products of financial conglomerates as an additional business for its members.
CTB President Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier issued part two of the revised cross-selling guidelines of Circular 844.
“Under the guidelines, simple retail financial products, which do not create exposure to investment risks, may be cross-sold inside bank premises,” he said during the recent CTB general membership meeting.
Limcaoco said simple insurance products, such as traditional life, nonlife and other similar protection-type insurance products, except variable insurance contracts, are considered as simple retail financial products.
“These products may be cross-sold inside bank premises, regardless of whether the financial product provider belongs to the same financial conglomerate or not,” he said.
He added that the collective investment schemes of financial product providers belonging to the same financial conglomerate may be cross-sold inside bank premises.
These include mutual funds, unit investment trust funds and variable unit-linked life insurance policy.
Meanwhile, CTB has prepared its position on the BSP’s proposed revisions of the minimum capitalization of banks.
“We hope to engage in the BSP discussions on this important issue before the proposed circular is finalized,” he said.
Other issues concerning the chamber were proposed amendments to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) Charter (House Bill 4392 and Senate Bill 2268), prohibiting service charges on deposit accounts failing to comply with the required maintaining balance (HB 3162); and prescribing the rates of interest upon loans and forbearances, by amending certain sections of the usury law (HB 3618).
He said the bill seeks to put a cap on interest rate by ensuring that the allowable interest a lender may collect shall be based exclusively on a benchmark interest rate.
“As our local industries gear up for global competition, we must be able to keep pace and advance with them. As such, CTB continues to seek various means to help its members address various regulatory and legislative requirements,” he said.