Test period for new forex reporting system extended

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has extended the testing period and implementation of the International Transaction Reporting System (ITRS) to give banks more time to address technical concerns.

In a memo signed by BSP Senior Assistant Governor Iluminada Sicat, the BSP revised the timeline on the implementation of the new foreign exchange reporting system.

The testing period of the ITRS is extended up to May next year from June 2024 previously, while the full implementation is now scheduled on June 2, 2025.

“The implementation timeline of the ITRS is extended to allow sufficient time for the banks and the project team to address emerging technical and report-related concerns prior to full implementation,” the central bank said.

The ITRS is a data collection system that obtains information from banks on peso and foreign currency transactions between a country’s residents and non-residents as well as transactions between residents that pass through the domestic banking system.

It requires banks to submit reports of all transactions between residents and nonresidents through a production portal using an application programming interface (API) in extensible markup language (XML) format.

During the testing period, banks may submit their test reports through the sandbox or production portals of the ITRS system.

Lenders may also continue setting up their systems and are encouraged to exercise diligence in their testing to ensure readiness upon full implementation of the reporting system.

By June next year, all banks’ will be mandated to submit reports via the ITRS production portal upon full implementation.

“This memorandum supersedes prior communications to banks on the schedule of the ITRS implementation,” the BSP said. “Furthermore, the FX Form 1/1A reports shall continue to be submitted regularly according to the existing policy, until otherwise advised by the BSP.”