BSP Anticipates Growing Bank Transactions
MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is reorganizing the Payments and Settlements Office (PSO), the overseer of the Philippine Payment and Settlements System (PhilPass), in anticipation of the huge volume of bank transactions using its services.
A report from the BSP said that PSO will be reorganized in anticipation of the volume growing in the next few years and as more and more banks are tapping this payments and settlement services unit for their transactions.
The restructuring is expected to improve its efficiency and reliability as the financial sector’s wholesale payments system.
The changes are mostly primarily structural changes such as staffing and the reshuffling of departments as well the removal of non-functioning units within the PSO.
The reorganization will also involve the addition of settlement monitoring desks to address the increasing traffic of PhilPaSS transactions and the regular back-up testing of the site for uninterrupted services.
The BSP is also developing new payments products and systems as they cope with the changing requirements of PhilPaSS clients.
“PhilPass is becoming more crucial to the (financial) sector,” said BSP Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. “In the overall scheme of things, the role of PhilPass is that it is the collector of the BSP, the government and all of the banks.”
Trillions of pesos pass through the system every year. In 2011, PhilPaSS transactions increased 23 percent to 1.2 million valued at P312.6 trillion. This amount is 51.3 percent higher than end 2010’s P206.6 trillion.
Espenilla said monitoring and regulating PhilPass transactions is one of the most important duties of the BSP.
“The central bank is the depository bank of the government … and all the banks use the BSP as a depository so the value of PhilPass is important. For example, if somebody wants to transfer money from the government to a bank, or a bank to another bank, the most efficient way to do that is through PhilPass,” stressed Espenilla.
At present, the PSO through PhilPaSS maintains and controls the demand deposit accounts of the local banks and monitors the receipt and settlement of interbank fund transfer instructions involving interbank lending/borrowing, automated teller machine network funds, purchase and sale of government securities through the Bureau of the Treasury’s own real-time system, among others.
The PSO also monitors and implements policies to manage risks to PhilPaSS such as banks’ intraday liquidity facility and overnight clearing line.
The BSP has been encouraging more financial entities under its supervision to participate in PhilPaSS. It wants to expand the usability of PhilPaSS as a payments facility that is faster and efficient to benefit all banking institutions.
From only 237 daily average transactions worth P100 billion in 2002 when PhilPaSS was opened, the system now settles an average of 4,50
-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CARLOS ANI - International Microfinance Consultant - SEEDFINANCE Corporation Chairman Mailing address: PO Box 90 UPLB Los Banos Laguna, Philippines 4031 Emails: carlosani@gmail.com , carlosani@seedfinance.net Landline Phone: +63495010127 (PLDT) Cellphone Numbers: +639152919580 (Globe) and +639328590859 (Sun) Websites: CARLOSANI.COM - http://www.carlosani.com DEVJOBS - http://www.devjobsmail.com PHILDEVFINANCE - http://phildevfinance.posterous.com My News Clippings - http://www.myclipps.posterous.com Family website - http://www.anifamily.net SEEDFINANCE Corporation - http://www.seedfinance.net Skype name: carlosaniph ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *********** This message is intended only for the named recipient and may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any misdirected transmission. If you received this message in error, please notify us immediately by telephone at +63495010127 and immediately delete this message from your system. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, disclose, distribute or copy any part of this message. Thank you. ***********
