Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona said crucial bank data will be available on a daily basis instead of monthly with the implementation of the unified regulatory and supervisory technology or RegTech/SupTech solution. The new BSP chief is referring to the Advanced SupTech Engine for Risk-Based Compliance (ASTERisC\*) that BSP adopted on January 1, to strengthen the industry’s cybersecurity through technology-based supervision. “This makes supervision much easier and if we do our jobs properly, it will make the banks more stable and more resilient,” said Remolona in a recent economic forum with foreign investors. ASTERisC\* streamlines and automates regulatory supervision, reporting, and compliance assessment of BSP supervised financial institutions’ (BSFIs) cybersecurity risk management. Remolona, who took the helm as BSP’s seventh governor last July 3, said BSP will benefit from digitalization by digitizing reportorial requirements, develop digital platforms, and employ various artificial intelligence integration projects. He said digitalization is a matter of efficiency and competitiveness for the banking system. For now, he highlights two frameworks in place that BSP is implementing, the regulatory sandbox and open finance to bring digitalization to another level. “The BSP is also a consumer using open finance and API (Application Programming Interface) and we’re developing Regtech API which means the BSP will start to collect from the bank the data that they’ve always collected but this time, it will be automatic, it will be the same consistent framework and eventually this collection of data for supervision purposes – we call it offsite supervision for example – will be available on a daily basis instead of monthly basis,” said Remolona. Open finance is the extension of data sharing principles and allows customers to have control over their own data. The BSP’s PH Open Finance Pilot will develop technical and operational standards for an open finance ecosystem in the country. Basically, the pilot program is a collaborative project on a voluntary basis to explore the use API technologies in the delivery of financial products and services which will be responsive to the needs of customers. Meanwhile, with the ASTERisC\* platform, the BSP is more proactive in preventing cybersecurity issues in the banking sector since it could process threats in real-time. At the moment, a select number of BSFIs are on ASTERisC\*. These banks are allowed to access the system in advance to prepare the lT profile data. Participating BSFIs can access the system via a cloud-based web application by providing the necessary credentials. As a cloud-based solution, ASTERisC\* supports the BSP's end-to-end process on cybersecurity supervision and oversight to include cyber-profiling, cyber incident reporting and cybersecurity control self-assessments, among others. Last week, the BSP approved changes to the submission deadline and category of banks’ prudential reports using the API. BSP Circular No. 1177, which was approved and signed on July 12 by BSP governor-in-charge, Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier, will be applied this month. It amends the due date and category of 20 prudential reports in extensive mark-up language or XML through API. The BSP has a goal of strengthening its surveillance of all banks and changing the category and due dates for 20 prudential reports migrating to API is part of this objective. The migration to API platforms was adopted in stages for efficiency in data preparation and in the validation and processing of information by the BSP. The API is a set of standard messages between two computer systems – such as BSP and the banks – for machine-to-machine submission and validation of reports. It will change the central bank’s regulatory reports process and will minimize risks related to human intervention and e-mail transmission of reports at less costs for BSFIs.