By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN
May 9, 2011, 5:10pm
MANILA, Philippines — Since more and more corporations are borrowing
from foreign sources for peso and dollar-denominated funding, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is putting up an online registration for
requests for foreign loan approvals including payments of fees.
Based on the memo proposal, a new Internet-based project called Foreign
Loan Approval and Registration System or FLAReS are being developed
after initial consultations with five big banks, namely Banco de Oro
Universal Bank, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine
Islands, Land Bank of the Philippines and Philippine National Bank. The
project aims to eliminate the manual task of computing fees, and
preparing payment orders and finally, the acceptance of check payments
to process the foreign loan application.
Sources said the program for FLAReS are still being developed and
finalized, following issues forwarded by the sector which recommends
foreign loan applications to the Monetary Board, which is the BSP's
International Operations Department (IOD).
The system is expected to be launched in the next weeks or up to the end
of June. The BSP is preparing the memorandum of agreement with
participating banks and clients to implement the project.
The IOD evaluates these foreign loan requests from the public and
private sectors. When the FLARes system is up and in operation, foreign
loan requests that will be processed online include registration of
foreign currency deposit units or FCDU loans. Remittance to the BSP of
fees, in the meantime, will be settled through the real time Philippine
Payments and Settlements System or PhilPaSS. The minimum charge per
transaction is P10. According to the memo, FLARes will offer borrowers
convenience in paying fees and ease in communication with the BSP.
For this year the BSP expects public and private sector foreign
borrowing to reach $20.5 billion, 56.2 percent higher than what was
registered in 2010 due to improved economic and business prospects. Half
of which are private sector loans, estimated to reach $10.1 billion this
year as investments are expected to pour in for the Aquino
administration's public-private partnership or PPP programs.
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UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)
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