BSP eases rules on trust account client profiling

MANILA, Philippines- The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has eased the client profiling exercise to determine risk on 10 trust accounts as part of efforts to further develop the country’s capital markets.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. issued Circular 721 series of 2011 amending the Manual of Regulation for Banks (MORB) and Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions (MORNBFI) on the exemption of certain trust or other fiduciary accounts from the client suitability assessment requirement.

The new circular exempted court trust, legislated and quasi-judicial trust, trust under indenture, facility or loan agency, transfer agency, deposit and reorganization, escrow, custodianship, safekeeping, and institutional trust - preneed plans from the process.

Prior to the issuance of the new circular the trust entities perform client profiling for all unit investment trust fund (UITF) and regular trust, other fiduciary and investment management accounts via a duly acknowledged CSA process.

The process is also aimed at providing trust entities with information leading to the prudent design of investment packages, suited to a particular client or investment account.

However, the client profiling exercise to determine risk tolerance would still be conducted on two trust accounts particularly property administratorship and life insurance trusts.