BSP tightens monitoring of big banks

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it would more closely monitor the operations of big banks belonging to conglomerates due to “moderate supervisory concerns.”

In its latest report on the financial system, the BSP noted that as of June this year, banks belonging to conglomerates account for close to half, or 47.5 percent, of the market.

These banks include Banco de Oro of the Sy family, Bank of the Philippine Islands of the Ayala group, and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. of the Ty family.

“Financial conglomerates represent a moderate supervisory concern,” the BSP said in the report.

“To enhance the monitoring of financial conglomerate transactions in the Philippines and their attendant risks to the financial system, the BSP sought to improve the existing information sharing arrangement among the member agencies of the Financial Sector Forum for the efficient conduct of coordinated regulation and supervision of financial conglomerates,” the BSP added.

The BSP said enhanced monitoring of operations of big banks and how they are affected by the performance of other firms in the same conglomerate was one of its latest regulatory moves to help maintain financial sector stability in the country.

The BSP has entered into an information sharing arrangement with other regulators in the financial sector, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Insurance Commission, so that the regulators will have a better grasp of the impact of the operations of members of a conglomerate on one another.