Regulatory Alerts2024-07-12
Circular No. 1197: Amendments to Foreign Exchange Regulations Covering Reporting Guidelines and Penalty Provisions
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued Circular No. 1197 to amend the Manual of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Transactions, establishing updated reporting standards and a structured penalty framework for financial institutions. The circular mandates electronic submission of all foreign exchange reports, defines compliance categories such as erroneous, delayed, and unsubmitted filings, and imposes escalating monetary fines based on entity type, reporting frequency, and violation duration. It further authorizes supervisory assessments of reporting systems, outlines administrative sanctions for policy violations with maximum fines of one million pesos per transactional breach, and grants a compliance transition period ending December 31, 2024, before full implementation in January 2025.