August 19 2016
The Philippine central bank is seeking to tighten scrutiny and regulation of currency dealers, money-transfer and financial-technology companies after the country was dragged into one of the biggest ever bank heists.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will ask Congress to expand the list of businesses it supervises to protect consumers and combat money laundering, Deputy Governor Vicente Aquino said in an interview in Manila. The expanded list will be among the planned changes to the central bank’s two-decade old charter and the country’s money-laundering law the regulator aims to pass within the next year, he said.
“A more complex financial system requires greater attention and more oversight,” said Aquino, 64, who was a former executive director of the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Council, or AMLC, before becoming a central bank deputy governor. “What recently happened opened the eyes of the world to the dangers of cyber-attacks and fast-changing financial environment.”
