The Financial Sector Forum (FSF) formally established an information sharing framework with the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Information Exchange by the heads of its four participating agencies — Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Chairperson Fe B. Barin of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commissioner Evangeline Crisostomo-Escobillo of the Insurance Commission (IC) and Ms. Imelda S. Singzon, Officer-In-Charge of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).

The multilateral agreement lays out a framework for the sharing of relevant reports and information highly essential in effectively performing the complementary mandates and regulatory functions of each agency over financial institutions.

The sharing framework considers disclosure prohibitions as parties agree to strictly observe confidentiality rules on shared data. The MoA further supplements existing bilateral data sharing arrangements among member agencies.

An integral part of the agreement is the inventory of reports which, among others, provides a description of each report, its source agency and the frequency each report is submitted to and generated by the source agency.

The agreement also calls for the generation of a universal master-list of all accredited reputation agents among FSF agencies which covers external auditors, credit rating agencies and appraisal companies.

The master-list will likewise include the standards or criteria applied by each agency in accrediting these reputation agents.

The agreement also paves the way for a consultation process among FSF member agencies in formulating regulations on reports required for submission from its regulated financial institutions.(Edu Lopez)