The main office of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Manila. — BW FILE PHOTO

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) has given rural and cooperative (co-op) banks in the country an extended window to submit the required enhanced reports on their credit and equity exposures without penalties.

In a memorandum signed by BSP Deputy Governor Lyn I. Javier, the BSP said rural and cooperative banks will not be penalized for reporting violations for their third-quarter 2025 submissions under the Enhanced Comprehensive Credit and Equity Exposures Report of 2023 (COCREE 2.0).

“All rural banks and cooperative banks (RCBs) shall be eligible to a grace period from penalties for reporting violations covering the live maiden reporting period (for Sept. 30, 2025) of COCREE 2.0,” the central bank said.

Banks that complied early with the maiden reporting period will be given even longer grace periods to submit upcoming reports this year.

RCBs that submitted their exposures reports on or before the live maiden reporting due date on Nov. 28 last year will be provided additional grace period covering the reporting periods ending Dec. 31, 2025, as well as March 31 and June 30 this year, the BSP said.

Those that complied after the due date but before the pilot testing in the BSP’s Reporting Management System (BRMS)-COCREE 2.0 Sandbox ended on Jan. 30 are allowed a grace period for the Dec. 31, 2025 reporting period.

However, the central bank clarified that all no-penalty windows are only valid for RCBs that “remain actively engaged” in submitting their reports through the BRMS Live Module.

According to the memorandum, RCBs have until May 26 to submit their quarterly report for the period ending Dec. 31, 2025 and until June 30 for reports covering the March 31 period.

Meanwhile, for reporting periods ending June 30 and onwards, banks must comply with the COCREE 2.0 live implementation within 25 business days after each reference period.

The BSP fully implemented the COCREE 2.0 in June last year to monitor the credit and equity exposures of universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, cooperative banks, digital banks, nonbank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions, and trust corporations.

The COCREE is a collection of credit and equity exposures that forms part of the central bank’s surveillance of emerging risks in supervised entities and the financial system.

The report compiles a monthly average of 31.7 million records. This is composed of granular borrower demographics (11.3 million records) and credit and equity exposure details (20.4 million records), which account for about 95% of the outstanding loan portfolio of the banking system.

The enhanced reporting system is designed to capture granular information on borrowers and counterparties by addressing critical data gaps, and also allows the BSP to conduct an in-depth analysis of borrower performance and behavior, including the portfolio of retail consumers and micro and small borrowers. — Katherine K. Chan