BSP sheds light on OPS registration

By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has clarified distinctions of which entity will have to register with the BSP as operator of payment system (OPS) to avoid confusions of who are providing bills payment services. In a memo or Memorandum No. M-2020-004, BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier said banks with bills payment services as is will register as OPS but if these banks only tap the payment services of other companies then they are not required to register as OPS. Fonacier said OPS under Section 4 (Republic Act No. 11127) of the National Payment Systems Act (NPSA) and based on BSP Circular No. 1049 states that “all BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFls) that offer bills payment services and/or perform services resulting to similar arrangements are considered as OPS.” The NPSA empowers the BSP to oversee the payment systems in the Philippines and exercise supervisory and regulatory powers over these payment systems for the purpose of ensuring the stability and effectiveness of the monetary and financial system. “As such, these BSFIs are required to comply with the requirements of (the) BSP circular and Memorandum No. M-2019-023,” she added. “However,” Fonacier further explained, “if delivery of the bills payment service is made by the BSFI thru an arrangement where the BSFI merely acts as an agent of the operator of the bills payment service, the latter as operator is the entity required to register with the BSP as an OPS, and not the BSFI that is acting as an agent.” Last December 2019, the BSP already extended the registration deadline for OPS until April this year. BSP Circular No. 1049 contains the new rules and regulations for OPS. In the meantime, Section 10 of the NPSA require all OPS to register with the BSP and this inventory will be used as inputs to the specific criteria for designating payment systems, as well as the oversight rules to be applied to such systems and the participants.