BSP to penalize bank officers for late submission of reports

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is clamping down on officials of banks and financial institutions that fail to submit required reports on time.

Incoming BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the regulator is set to issue a circular on reporting governance that would lay down the framework for improved preparation and submission of supervision reports.

“It’s actually a very important circular. It makes it very clear whose responsibility it is all the way to the board to make sure that the data being submitted is accurate and based on the requirements of the BSP,” he said.

Espenilla, who is currently the deputy governor for Supervision and Examination Sector at the BSP, said the reports submitted by BSP-supervised financial institutions are being used as the foundation for policy making.

“That also lays down the obligations of banks such as to report in a timely manner and what are the sanctions including if you continuously fail to meet the reporting timelines, that creates more sanctions,” he said.

Espenilla said the Monetary Board has already approved the regulation that basically strengthens the framework for high-quality data submission to the BSP.

He pointed out the new regulation would address the late submission of reports by banks that could easily afford the payment of penalties.

“I guess maybe there are some banks who don’t appreciate the importance of the data, others are really challenged to produce high-quality data. Others feel they can just pay the penalty,” he said.