BSP enhances rules for banks’ bond issuances

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revised its rules on banks’ bond issuances to keep them in line with those of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to address policy gaps. (Photo: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas/Facebook)

MANILA — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revised its rules on banks’ bond issuances to keep them in line with those of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to address policy gaps.

In an interview by journalists Friday, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said the central bank has “issued the rules that will facilitate banks to issue bonds into the market.”

He explained that bond issuances will help banks raise capital on top of the issuance of long-term negotiable certificate of deposit (LTNCD), a long-term instrument.

Espenilla added that bond issuances can also be tapped to replace LTNCDs in the long run.

Banks are allowed to issue bonds, he said, “but there were gaps in the rules that made it difficult (to issue).”

This was why the BSP worked with the SEC to clarify and sort the rules, and make these in line with the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

“The bottom line is like a non-financial, corporate bond can be issued by a bank following basically the SEC bonds issuance rules. We removed the seeming disconnect,” he said.

The new rules will not affect applications for LTNCD issuance that are already in the pipeline, the central bank chief said, citing the large number of LTNCD issuance lately as banks try to manage interest rates risk.

“They are trying to lock in long-term money to match their long-term funding,” he said.