BSP SOPS for holidays, emergencies streamlined
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has rolled out streamlined operating procedures to guide financial institutions and the public on accessing core services—including foreign exchange and payment settlements—during holidays and emergencies.
In a memo dated Aug. 12, the BSP said it had simplified what used to be a patchwork of procedures that varied depending on the nature of the holiday or disruption.
Under the new rules, essential central banking services and operations will continue on most days, except during nationwide regular and special nonworking holidays declared by Malacañang.
The services covered include monetary operations and peso-dollar trading, the preparation of the daily reference exchange rate bulletin, and the settlement of large-value payments. They also extend to regional operations such as currency deposits and withdrawals, cash service alliances, first-level system administration like the currency management support system services, and check-clearing transactions.
Infra breakdown
The BSP said it may also suspend these services if the governor—or an officer in charge—orders it in situations that pose risks to personnel safety, when critical utilities or services are unavailable, or during infrastructure breakdowns and similar emergencies.
In such cases, the central bank’s Communications Office will issue advisories for the general public through its website, official social media accounts, or other platforms, while relevant BSP departments will notify supervised institutions and stakeholders.
Announcements will be made, as much as possible, a day in advance but no later than 8 a.m. of the same day. If a suspension takes effect after 8 a.m., the advisory must be issued at least one hour before implementation.
The BSP also clarified that a holiday will be considered a “reserve day” when all essential central bank operations are conducted for the entire business day.
A reserve day serves as the reference date for computing banks’ required reserves with the BSP, which are then averaged over a reserve week to check compliance.
Overall, the BSP said the revised procedures were meant to uphold the efficient functioning of the country’s large-value payment system, ensure the reliability of currency operations, and promote financial market stability.
The update comes on the heels of recent work suspensions in July, when heavy monsoon rains disrupted government operations.
“The SOP has been revised and simplified to reflect the BSP’s enhanced capability to perform essential central bank operations under different scenarios where several work arrangements can be applied,” the memo said.
