BSP tightens up rules on bank directors, execs
THE MONETARY BOARD of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has expanded grounds for disqualification of candidates for directorship and officer posts in banks and quasi-banks (QBs), the BSP said in a Jan. 1 press release.
The revised policy states that a person who has caused a bank “undue injury, material loss or damage” or have exposed the lender “to a higher risk” will be disqualified from becoming a director or officer in other BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFI).
The new rules provide further that dismissal from any government institution, conviction for offenses under the amended charter of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., delinquency in settling obligations or unwillingness to do so also constitute grounds for such disqualification.
“In order to promote transparency and ensure that the persons concerned are accorded with due process, the revised policy sets out the disqualification procedures that will be followed,” the central bank said in its statement on Wednesday.
“The procedures provide a window for the person concerned to explain his side and present evidence to support his position,” it added.
Should a person be disqualified after such a procedure, his name will be put on a watchlist database.
This means “he can no longer be connected in [sic] any BSFI unless his name is removed from the said list,” the central bank said.
The revised guidelines are in line with Circulars 969 and 970 — both issued on Aug. 22, 2017 — which laid out enhanced corporate governance standards for directors and officers of banks and QBs. “Said guidelines… set forth their key roles and responsibilities, consistent with the principle that the tone of good governance should come from the top,” the news release read. — LWTN