Regulators agree to share info to protect investors

this story was taken from www.inq7money.net
URL: http://money.inq7.net/topstories/view_topstories.php?yyyy=2006&mon=04&dd=20&file=11

Posted: 2:09 AM | Apr. 20, 2006

Inquirer

THE four financial regulators -- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank), Securities and Exchange Commission, Insurance Commission, and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) -- agreed on Wednesday to share information to help protect the investing public.

The heads of these four agencies that make up the Financial Sector Forum (FSF) -- BSP Governor Amando Tetangco SEC Chairperson Fe Barin, Insurance Commissioner Evangeline Escobillo and PDIC officer in charge Imelda Singzon -- signed a memorandum of agreement to set up a multilateral information-sharing network.

"The sharing framework considers disclosure prohibitions as parties agree to strictly observe confidentiality rules on shared data," the FSF said in a statement.

The memorandum of agreement supplements existing bilateral data-sharing arrangements among the four agencies.

An integral part of it is an inventory of reports that, among others, describes each pertinent report, its source agency, and the frequency each report is submitted to and generated by the source agency.

The MoA also calls for generating a universal master-list of all accredited agents among FSF agencies, including external auditors, credit rating agencies, and appraisal companies.

It also paves the way for a consultation process among FSF agencies when formulating regulations on reports required for submission from its regulated financial institutions.

For the long term, the FSF is keen on policies on six "high-priority" areas affecting the financial sector: risk management, capital adequacy, issuance of securities by non-banks, prudential limits, collective investment schemes and analogous insurance products.

The FSF is a voluntary cooperative endeavor of the agencies to provide an institutionalized framework for coordinating the supervision and regulation of the financial system, while preserving each agency's mandate. Doris C. Dumlao, with INQ7.net