The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday backed moves to amend the “very strict” Bank Secrecy Law.
“It appears that the Philippines is the only country with such deposit secrecy laws that constrain prudential supervision,” BSP general counsel Attorney Roberto Figueroa said during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies.
“The BSP recommends the easing of deposit secrecy within the confines of BSP supervision and its investigation of closed banks,” he said.
Figueroa noted that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund said the Philippines’ bank secrecy laws “restrict the BSP’s ability to undertake effective supervision” and recommended “unimpaired access to information on all customer accounts, and the ability, without constraints, to employ and share depositor information for any prudential purpose.”
He said the bank secrecy regime hampered the ability of regulators such as BSP to check bank deposits and ensure that no dirty money entered the system.
“Although the idea is good, the intention was noble when the bank secrecy law was enacted again to respect the privacy of depositors, as I said, the unintended consequence was naging refuge nga ng mga illicit activities ng persons or people like money launderers,” Figueroa said.
