The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is requiring all participants of its peso real-time gross settlement (RTGS) payment system to submit an attestation report to prove they are active users and complying with the rules and regulations.
Based on a memo (Memorandum No. M-2024-014), signed by BSP Assistant Governor Mary Anne P. Lim who is also the chairperson of the RTGS Management Committee, all participants will submit the first attestation report on June 28, 2024 covering the period Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023.
Lim said the report is part of the Peso RTGS Rules on Reporting Requirements and that all participants have to certify that they “continue to comply with the terms and conditions on (the) participation” in the RTGS.
The attestation report will cover the following areas: laws and regulations on payment system; operational requirements; financial requirements; risk management; collaborative activities; reporting requirements; data confidentiality; and sponsorship arrangements.
“The maiden report is due on 28 June 2024. The deadline for succeeding annual reports is the last banking day of January every year,” said Lim in the memo.
The last reporting requirements rule implemented by the BSP on RTGS was in June last year when it required a monthly monitoring report of sponsored RTGS payment system participants.
The report aims to “identify, monitor and manage any material risks” to the RTGS that could come from sponsored participation arrangements.
The BSP defines sponsorship as a “relationship between two parties, where one party (sponsor/sponsoring institution) provides or assumes the responsibility to settle the transaction of the other party (sponsored/beneficiary institution).”
These parties are banks, non-bank financial institutions or payment service providers (PSPs).
Basically, a sponsored institution is the party with no direct access to the RTGS and it settles its transactions through its sponsoring institution, said the BSP.
RTGS participants also include the BSP and financial institutions maintaining settlement accounts with the BSP, well as financial market infrastructures or FMIs, clearing switch operators, and critical service providers within the RTGS ecosystem.
The BSP’s RTGS payment system ensures the country’s smooth flow of funds and transfers. It facilitates fund transfers in financial markets where these institutions trade securities and foreign currencies for business and risk management purposes.
The BSP has previously streamlined the qualification requirements for the settlement system such as for non-bank e-money issuers and other entities with retail transactions through the RTGS. Non-banks can now transact without the need for sponsorship by existing participants.
The BSP also updated and amended the RTGS rules since as a systemically important payment system (SIPS), it could have systemic risks and threaten the safety of the National Payment System (NPS) and the circulation of money or movement of funds in the Philippines.