MONETARY authorities have approved new amendments to foreign exchange (FX) regulations in support of efforts to attract investments.

This is also in line with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' (BSP) commitment to facilitate access to foreign exchange, including streamlining documentary requirements, procedures and reporting.

"This is part of the continuing efforts of the BSP to review the FX regulatory framework and support the country's thrust to promote a policy environment conducive to sustained inflow of investments to help foster economic development and growth," the central bank said in a statement on Friday.

The main changes, the BSP said, are:

– Allowing foreign investments (such as in government securities or Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities, for example) to be registered once reported by the authorized agent bank to the BSP, subject to guidelines in the Manual of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Transactions;

– Dispensing with the issuance of BSP registration documents; and

– Streamlining reporting forms and procedures.

Authorized agent banks have been given until September 30 to prepare and make the necessary adjustments to their systems and procedures.

The circular implementing the new FX rules, the BSP said, will take effect 15 banking days after publication in the Official Gazette or a general circulation newspaper in the Philippines.

In February, Monetary Board member Anita Linda Aquino said that further FX reforms should be expected this year.

Several rounds of reforms have been implemented, and Aquino said "implementation of the 13th wave of FX reforms in March 2023 translated pandemic-related relief measures into policy, easing compliance for banks."

Liberalization, the BSP states on its website, is "being undertaken in a well-calibrated manner, giving due consideration to prevailing domestic and international economic and financial conditions, while ensuring that timely prudential mechanisms ... and safeguard measures remain in place ..."

The latter, in particular, is to allow the central bank to adopt necessary measures to address emerging issues and maintain its ability to capture timely, reliable and comprehensive data.