Full adoption of new foreign exchange reporting system moved

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. (File photo / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) again deferred the full implementation of a new reporting system that would ensure a more transparent disclosure of banks’ foreign exchange  transactions, to give regulated entities more time to fix “emerging” issues on their adoption.

In a memorandum, the BSP pushed back the implementation of the International Transactions Reporting System (ITRS) to June 1, 2026.

READ: Stricter offshore forex trade rules sought

This marked the second time that the BSP had deferred the full adoption of the ITRS.

The new reporting system was originally scheduled to be implemented on June 28, 2024, but the central bank had to delay it to June 2, 2025, to give banks more time to “address emerging technical and report-related concerns prior to full implementation.”

And the new BSP memo cited the same reason for extending the implementation timeline anew.

According to the document, banks can conduct tests and submit the reports to the BSP between June 2025 and May 2026.

Transparency

The ITRS is a portal that collects reports from banks on all peso and foreign exchange transactions between residents and nonresidents, as well as transactions among the country’s residents that pass through the local banking system.

The BSP plans to use the ITRS to compile data for the country’s balance of payments statistics following international standards, as well as help in the supervision and monitoring of foreign exchange transactions.

Once the new reporting system is fully adopted, banks would no longer have to submit weekly/monthly reports using existing forms that they had been using since the aftermath of the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis.

Recall that the BSP had to tighten the rules on offshore foreign exchange trades in the wake of the Asian crisis, as it was widely believed that these instruments had been used by currency speculators.

For now, the BSP said banks may continue setting up their systems and “are encouraged to exercise diligence in their testing to ensure readiness upon full implementation of the ITRS system.”

“Banks will be mandated to submit reports via the ITRS production portal upon full implementation of the system,” it added. INQ