Banks’ live reporting of credit data face more delays


For the fourth time this year, the live reporting of banks' expanded Comprehensive Credit and Equity Exposures Report (COCREE) has been delayed, and pilot testing suspended, due to unspecified system issues.

Based on BSP Memorandum No. M-2024-043 issued on December 19th, which detailed the updated COCREE (COCREE 2.0) guidelines, the new implementation schedule is staggered between April and August 2025. This applies to reporting periods from January to July 2025 for most banks.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier stated in the memo that December's pilot testing was suspended due to system maintenance. She did not elaborate on the specific cause of the delay.

Fonacier said pilot testing will resume in January 2025 in a new sandbox environment, starting with a clean slate. The BSP will announce details and guidelines for the 2025 COCREE 2.0 pilot testing schedule and onboarding requirements for the new sandbox environment at a later date.

According to the new schedule, universal and commercial banks, digital banks, thrift banks, non-banks, and trust corporations will begin submitting new monthly reports in January. Rural and cooperative banks will start reporting in September.

The previous target for COCREE 2.0 live implementation was December 31, 2024. This had already been pushed back from September 30th and the original June 2024 target. Reports are due 25 business days after the reporting period.

COCREE 2.0, an enhancement of the 2021 version, aims to strengthen the surveillance and analysis of emerging risks for all banks.

BSP Circular No. 1184, which mandated the COCREE upgrade, explains that the report is designed to capture detailed borrower or counterparty information for all credit and equity exposures of BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs).

By expanding and granulating the surveillance of banks' credit and equity exposures, the BSP aims to improve the detection of emerging risks in the financial system and prevent contagion.

The expanded COCREE will increase data points from 85 to 164 to incorporate relevant supplemental details.

Prior to COCREE, the CREDEX system, adopted in 2003, monitored bank exposures. However, CREDEX only tracked exposures with outstanding balances of P1 million and above, failing to capture granular data on micro, small and medium enterprises and consumer lending.

COCREE, leveraging new technologies, addresses these gaps. It will initially utilize 85 data points, eventually expanding to 164, compared to CREDEX's 35.

The BSP emphasizes that COCREE will provide more granular information to support on-site examination and off-site surveillance activities, including forward-looking stress testing and scenario analysis at both micro and macro levels.