The BSP's Organizational Structure
as of June 2009

The Supervision and Examination Sector

1. Inclusive Finance Advocacy Staff

• Focuses on advocacy work with financial institutions to promote sustainable methods in the delivery of microfinance and the small and medium enterprise banking services, organizing capacity-building with exposure activities within the BSP, liaising with the Congress, other agencies, international organizations, other assistance providers, and the media to inform on the BSP activities and to share knowledge, and conducting research and monitoring new developments in the field.

2. Central Administrative Services Group

• Undertakes sector wide services relating to personnel, budget and finance, records, facilities, property and supplies, and frontline services administration of the SES.

Central Supervisory Support Sub-sector

1. SES Operations Management Group

• Provides dedicated support to the SES management in: (1) optimizing scarce examination resources to achieve timely and efficient conduct of risk-based on-site examinations while keeping the professional staff up-to-date on their training requirements; and (2) monitoring progress in the accomplishment of critical supervision tasks such as compliance with examination schedules, delivery of Reports of Examination (ROE) and Institutional Overview (IO), and response to requests; and
• Assesses the training needs and capacity development requirements of the SES personnel, and develops the corresponding training courses and other development interventions in coordination with the BSP Institute and the Human Resource Development Department.

2. Central Applications and Licensing Group

• Evaluates requests of banks and non-banks which require approval of the BSP on matters such as the establishment of banks, branching, equity investment outsourcing and in-sourcing, cross-selling, cash or stock dividend declaration, issuance of the Foreign Currency Deposit Unit and quasi-banking licenses, acceptance of government deposits, issuance of long-term negotiable certificates of deposits, offering demand deposit accounts, amendment of articles of incorporation and/or by-laws; and other similar standardized tasks.

3. Financial Consumer Affairs Group

• Conducts advocacy initiatives aimed at educating and supporting the interest of the public on financial literacy issues, which include: (1) assisting consumers on the resolution of complaints or disputes with BSP-supervised financial institutions; (2) initiating the adoption of or modification of policies, rules and regulations in line with consumer protection laws and the BSP’s financial literacy advocacy; and (3) liaising between the SES and the public, the legislative, and the financial sector with regard to consumer issues related to the use of banking services.

4. Office of Supervisory Policy Development

• Functions as central policy research and development unit of the SES. It conducts continuing research on financial institutions supervision requirements in line with evolving global standards and needs of the banking and financial system as a whole toward a more proactive regulatory environment.

5. Supervisory Data Center

• Serves as the central collection, quality assurance, processing, and distribution point of all financial sector data coming into or being released by the SES. It is responsible for developing and maintaining the financial system databases of the Sector in a state-of-the-art data warehouse environment.

Supervision and Examination Sub-sector I

1. Core Information Technology Specialist Group

• Conducts information technology (IT) supervision and examination of banks and non-bank financial institutions (FIs), including payments systems. Its focus is on determining the adequacy of the IT management and operational controls over data integrity and confidentiality, and the assessment of attendant risk exposures.

2. Trust Specialist Group

• Specializes in examining risk exposure which may arise from the trust, other fiduciary business, and investment management activities of FIs. It also formulates policies, guidelines, rules and regulations consistent/aligned with international best practices.

3. Capital Markets Specialist Group

• Specializes in the supervision and examination of capital market activities of BSP-supervised financial institutions (FIs) including treasury operations, market and liquidity risk management, and trading of capital market products such as derivatives and complex structured products.

4. Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Group

• Develops guidelines and regulations to support the anti-money laundering efforts of BSP-supervised financial institutions;
• Ensures effective implementation of said policies through examination services; and
• Conducts off-site monitoring to identify those FIs with operations that present an elevated risk of money laundering activities

5. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Finance Specialist Group

• Focuses on the specialized risk-based supervision and examination requirements of banks which have adopted a banking business model dedicated to or highly exposed to the micro, small and medium enterprises.

6. Examination Departments I, II, and III

• Conduct on-site examination of universal banks and theirsubsidiaries/affiliates, commercial banks and their subsidiaries/affiliates, foreign banks and their subsidiaries/affiliates, thrift and rural banks.

Supervision and Examination Sub-sector II

1. Integrated Supervision Department I

• Monitors and supervises cooperative banks and non-bank financial institutions, including investment houses with quasi-banking and/or trust license and non-stock savings and loan associations (NSSLAs).

2. Integrated Supervision Department II

• Conducts supervision and examination of selected banks and non-bank FIs.

Supervision and Examination Sub-sector III

1. Regional Supervisory Services Divisions I and II (Cebu and Davao)

• Serve as the focal point of contact between the SES main office and the local banks and their customers in the region. Their primary responsibility is to provide more timely frontline services relative to Manila in their operating area relating to various FI supervision matters and consumer issues. They support and augment on-site examination and verification operations of the Central Point of Contact.

2. Central Point of Contact Department I (CPCD I)

• Supervises banking groups and large banks that have complex operations and dynamic risk profiles. FIs under CPCD I include large private universal/commercial banks, government banks, foreign banks, and large thrift banks that operate on a national scale.

3. Central Point of Contact Department II (CPCD II)

• Supervises banks operating on a regional and local level that comprise the overwhelming majority of the players in the banking system. Banks under CPCD II include region and community-based thrift and rural banks, including microfinance-oriented banks.