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BSP eases FX rules anew fore easier digital payments

Published Aug 12, 2021 02:43 pm

To ease digital payment transactions, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday said it has approved another round of foreign exchange (FX) amendments relaxing FX access for trade and non-trade current accounts.

The BSP in a statement said the Monetary Board has decided to tweak FX rules and regulations anew to “promote greater ease in the use of FX resources of the banking system, and further streamline/simplify procedures and documentary requirements for FX transactions.”

“The FX reforms also intend to facilitate digital payments/electronic transactions, support the infrastructure development projects/programs of the National Government, and help further deepen the domestic capital market,” said the BSP.

The BSP has relaxed the rules on banks’ sale of FX by no longer requiring prior BSP approval for the following FX transactions: e-commerce market participants to support digital payments/electronic transactions; offsetting of payables with receivables between/among residents for various FX transactions, and residents with non-residents for their trade and non-trade current account transactions; and living allowance/medical expenses of dependents abroad, among other non-trade current account transactions. Also eased are rules on the following FX activities: importation of goods with services covered by Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts; payment of fees prior to registration provided that the foreign loans are duly reported to the BSP;

The BSP has removed previous prior approval requirements for FX derivatives transactions to be entered into by non-bank government entities without prior BSP approval; and the use of peso receipts relating to trade transactions to fund peso deposit accounts of non-residents, among others.

According to the BSP, “these reforms are part of the BSP’s commitment to maintain an FX regulatory framework that is responsive to the needs of a dynamic and expanding Philippine economy. However, the BSP expects banks to continue to implement safe and sound practices amid the continuing liberalization of FX rules.”

Last year the BSP amended FX regulations once. The latest FX regulation amendment is the 13th since 2007.

Before the pandemic, the BSP launched 12 FX public awareness briefings as an information campaign. These were attended by bankers, businessmen, exporters, foreign affairs and other government personnel. The talks centered on two BSP circulars on FX liberalization such as BSP Circular 984 (“Amendments to the Manual of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Transactions, as amended” approved December 2017) and Circular 1030 (“Amendments to Foreign Exchange Regulations” approved February 2019).

The continuous FX reforms allow the BSP to do the following: adopt necessary measures to address any perceived emerging concern/problem; and maintain its ability to capture timely, reliable and comprehensive data for its various needs, such as policy review and formulation, analysis of trends and developments (volatility in capital flows), statistics and report generation.

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