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THERE is
consensus among legislators for the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) to head a collegial body supervising
prospectively the provisions contained in the proposed
Credit Information System Act, or Cisa.
At the
recent annual membership meeting of the Chamber of
Thrift Banks, Angara bared his personal preference for
the BSP to head the program.
“It has
the prestige, the competence and, most of all, the money
to underwrite, at least initially, the requirements of
the Cisa,” to told the gathered CTB members.
Angara
said the Senate has already passed the initiative, but
that the House of Representative continues to deliberate
on it.
The Cisa
is part of a broad set of measures to strengthen the
domestic capital market by, among others, providing a
centralized system of credit information generally
available to participating players.
Angara
said there is ongoing discussion centering on the
creation of a council safeguarding the various interests
involved.
Aside
from the BSP, the Securities and Exchange Commission and
the Department of Trade and Industry are involved in the
discussions.
“Trade
Secretary Peter Favila is involved because there is the
matter of consumer protection,” he said.
Angara
urged his colleagues at the House of Representatives to
speed up the legislative process.
“There
are many benefits to a centralized credit-information
system based on a World Bank study showing increased
access to financing as crucial to lowering the cost of
credit,” Angara said.
The
World Bank study also found the banks’ past due ratio
fell with the establishment of such a system, especially
now when the lessons of the US subprime-mortgage
problems are all too clear for everyone to see,
Angara said.
“It is
important to have a credible up-to-date and
comprehensive credit-information system. And to me, the
BSP is the logical choice as head of the collegial body
needed to put the system to work. Its ascendancy over
the banks is enough compulsion for the industry to share
credit information with those who need it,” the senator
said.
He
observed that the domestic capital market continues to
be small and relatively immature.
“We need
devices as the Cisa to attract the proverbial money in
the baul to where they can be put to good use. We
also need to educate our people, to help them become
financially literate, particularly our overseas Filipino
workers,”
Angara said.
He
estimated the Cisa needs around P200 million to
operationalize its objectives, money that the BSP may
readily provide. |
