​Who will lead the BSP?

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 09 Jan 2017 by Romeo Bernardo
The financial community entered 2017 with President Rodrigo Duterte's December threat against the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) still ringing in its ears. In his second challenge in as many months to the AMLC, which is chaired by the BSP Governor, the President said that "Tetangco is about to retire, better prepare there because I'll give you a whack;" adding, "I'll count one to three and if you don't resign, I will treat you as a drug addict." The AMLC earned the President's ire after it supposedly failed to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigations into the drug trade. The attack against the AMLC has since been followed by opinion pieces casting the AMLC's past actions in a bad light and suggesting that the previous administration used the body's powers to peek into bank deposits to gather evidence against its enemies. Also, a bill has been filed in congress by former President Gloria Arroyo, now Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives, seeking to explicitly write into the BSP Charter a provision prohibiting the BSP from supervising the AMLC. Even though one can appreciate the argument that the AMLC's operations, which are investigative by nature, are not part of the core functions of central banking, many find the timing of the proposal suspect and fear that without the independence and integrity that the BSP brings to the AMLC, the body will indeed become a political tool for those in power. But what the financial community is mainly worrying about is the impact of all the fuss on the question of who will lead the institution in charge of monetary policy when the term of Governor Amando Tetangco ends midyear. While the President's threat ...

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this or its contents.