Economy Policy
Philippines rolls out new banking rules on holidays, emergencies
The revised procedures help ensure the stability of the country’s currency operations and financial systems.
The Philippines’ central bank has announced new standard operating procedures (SOPs) to guide financial institutions and the public on accessing its core financial services during holidays, non-working days, and emergencies.
In a memo dated August 12, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it has amended various procedures to ensure the smooth operation of the country’s financial system during holidays or disruptions.
Under the new rules, essential central banking services and operations will continue on most days except during nationwide regular and special non-working holidays as declared by the President.
For Philippine bank holidays declared on an ordinary business day, all BSP services will remain open. If the holiday is declared before 9:00 AM due to emergencies, such as extreme weather or labour strikes, all BSP services will continue except for the overnight deposit facility (ODF) and the term deposit facility (TDF) services.
If the extended emergency holiday extends to a second day, all BSP services will remain open, but under specific conditions and prerequisites that market participants have to follow.
For holiday declarations made on a Saturday or Sunday that will take effect on Monday, the BSP will “make the declaration of favorable or unfavorable conditions before 6:00 AM.”
The central bank may also suspend services if ordered by the governor or an officer-in-charge due to situations that risk the safety of bank personnel or when critical utilities, infrastructure, or services have broken down.
In such cases, the BSP Communications Office will issue public advisories through its website, social media accounts, and other official channels. Relevant BSP departments will also notify supervised institutions and stakeholders.
The central bank also noted that if essential central bank operations are conducted during a holiday, it will be considered as a ‘reserve day’. A reserve day serves as the reference date for computing a bank’s required reserves with the BSP, which are then averaged over a reserve week to ensure compliance.
BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said the amended SOP ‘underscores the availability of essential BSP services during government work suspensions and holidays that are not on the list of regular and special non-working holidays issued by the Office of the President before or at the start of a new year’.
Remolona added that, to ensure the liquidity requirements for market participants are available during the holidays, the SOP will guarantee that the ODF and the TDF continue to be accessible.
The update comes after heavy monsoon rains caused a series of work suspensions in July, disrupting government operations.
“The SOP has been revised and simplified to reflect the BSP’s enhanced capability to perform essential central bank operations under different scenarios where several work arrangements can be applied,” the memo said.
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