The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has revised its standard operating procedures for holidays and work suspensions, according to a memorandum issued on Aug. 12, 2025.
The BSP said it would now conduct essential operations on national and local holidays, as well as during government work suspensions.
These operations include monetary and foreign exchange (USD/PHP) transactions, preparation of the daily reference exchange rate bulletin and cash services. The peso real-time gross settlement system, PhilPaSS plus, will also operate.
Under the new rules, holidays will be considered “reserve days” where all essential operations are conducted for the full business day.
Other financial market infrastructures and industry associations will also be required to operate when the BSP does. These include the Bureau of the Treasury for NRoSS settlements; the Bankers Association of the Philippines for foreign exchange, interest rate swaps and derivatives trading; the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. for fixed income trading; and the Money Market Association of the Philippines for interbank and government security repo trading.
They also include the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. for equities and fixed income depository operations; BancNet for ATM and InstaPay clearing; Philippine Clearing House Corporation for check image clearing, PESONet clearing, USD/PHP payment versus payment and domestic dollar transfers
The new arrangements apply unless Malacañang declares a nationwide regular or special non-working holiday for both the public and private sectors. The only other exception is if the BSP governor or officer-in-charge suspends operations due to safety risks, utility failures, or other critical circumstances.
“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 BSP said.
