The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas plans to release by the second quarter this year the Open Finance Framework, which will govern the customer-allowed sharing of financial data that is seen to create innovative financial solutions for both customers and financial institutions.
“The BSP is now refining the draft circular on Open Finance based on comments we received from the industry, and we hope to finalize the circular within the second quarter of this year,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in an online briefing Thursday.
According to the draft circular issued December last year, open finance refers to the "sharing and leveraging of customer-permissioned data among banks, other financial institutions and third-parties to build innovative financial solutions, such as those that provide real-time payments, greater financial transparency options for account holders, marketing and cross-selling opportunities.”
Diokno said open finance would shape the industry and is part of BSP’s broader efforts to foster financial innovation while safeguarding consumer interests and the stability of the financial system.
The proposed framework provides for the creation of an Open Finance Oversight Committee, which is a BSP-recognized industry-led self-governing body that will craft its rules for membership, participation, procedures and setting of standards.
The draft circular also pursues tiered implementation based on data sensitivity, type and holder.
The BSP said it consulted with global subject matter experts, conducted a survey with BSP-supervised financial institutions and completed a comparative study of the regulatory landscape in other jurisdictions.
The underlying idea of Open Finance is that customers are the owners of transaction data, which could be shared if the customers wish to do so.
The BSP said it formulates a policy that encourages information-sharing among financial institutions in the course of developing innovative financial services for customers.