Philippine Central Bank to Ask Congress to Relax Deposit Secrecy

(Bloomberg) -- The Philippine central bank will ask Congress to relax rules on deposit secrecy to fight tax evasion and money laundering, and comply with global standards on transparency.

Another legislative priority for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is a bill that will reform financing in the agriculture sector, it said in a statement. The Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act of 2009 requires banks to allot at least 10% of total funds available for loans for agrarian reform beneficiaries and 15% for farmers and fishermen.

The central bank is proposing that lenders be allowed to merge their loan allocation to the farm sector to improve compliance rates, it said. Another priority measure is a bill on consumer financial protection, the central bank said. The 18th Congress will open on July 22.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net

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