NRoSS remains main mechanism in BTr auctions

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has issued the procedures to guide investors on how to participate in its weekly auctions under an alternative working arrangement amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.

In a memorandum posted on its website, the BTr enjoined government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) to maintain access to the National Registry of Scripless Securities (NRoSS) even when alternative working arrangements are in place.

The Treasury said NRoSS still remains to be the priority mechanism for the submission, processing and awarding of bids during auction even under these circumstances.

“As such, the BTr shall ensure, as far as practicable, that the NRoSS is running and ready to receive bids during auction,” the agency said.

NRoSS is an online centralized electronic registry for dematerialized fixed income securities. It helps facilitate the electronic transfer of securities for trade and non-trade transactions.

The Treasury suspended the system’s operations on March 17, but put it back in place on March 18 with shortened operating hours.

In case any GSED is not able to submit their bids through NRoSS, they should provide to the BTr a certification that their duly authorized personnel is on a work from home or other alternative working arrangement, preventing them access to the system.

The GSED should submit the certification, together with its bid form, through e-mail to the BTr one hour prior to the stated cut-off time for each auction. For proper security, the bid form should be password protected.

“The BTr shall confirm receipt of the email. Tenders received after cut-off time shall be disregarded by the BTr. No liability whatsoever shall be borne by the BTr for errors in the bid form received or for delays in the transmission of the bids,” the agency said.

Bids submitted through e-mail will be input by the BTr on behalf of the GSED concerned.

“By participating in this process, each GSED authorizes the BTr to access their direct participant account in NRoSS in order for the manual encoding of bids to be done,” the BTr said.

The BTr will inform GSEDs of the auction results through NRoSS or e-mail.

Meanwhile, the Treasury said the over-the-counter application and processing of fidelity bond at the BTr-NCR office has been suspended until further notice.

However, fidelity bond applications will still be allowed through e-mail.