Banking issues

FIRST the good news. The Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA) is making a further loan of P12.3 billion to complete the Philippines’ plan to vaccinate its target population against COVID-19 and to expand the healthcare system to meet the challenges of possible future public health emergencies.

The interest rate of the loan is a notional 0.01 percent.

JICA continues to be an excellent partner to the Philippines. It has already lent P400 billion to support the “Build Build Build” program.

*** There are many, i ncluding this writer, who view the world of cyberbanking with extreme trepidation. My pension is paid in British pounds and I have the task of converting the pounds into US dollars, then sending the dollars to my bank in the Philippines. My overseas bank, Standard Chartered, Jersey Branch instructs me to undertake this job.

The conversion of pounds into dollars takes three working days. The dollars’ journey to the Philippines and to my account here is much quicker; thanks to the efficiency of Security Bank’s remittance center.

Last week’s t ransfer f rom

Standard Chartered, Jersey to the Philippines was a disaster. Instead of sending the funds to Bacolod City’s Security Bank branch, the money ended up in Standard Chartered Bank’s New York branch. Why?

Fortunately, the funds were sent back to Standard Chartered, Jersey since the New York branch had nowhere to place the money.

*** I am delighted that the Bank of Philippine I s l ands ( BPI) is increasing its investment in cyberbanking. This should create a safer, hopefully unhackable, cyberenvironment.

*** The response of the print media and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to the recent BDO Unibank Inc debacle when over 700 accounts were hacked is disappointing.

BSP has s aid t hat i t has “sanctioned” BDO. What sanctions? If it has imposed a fine on BDO, then say so. Furthermore the fine should be commensurate with the enormity of the event. ( I am not aware that any bank anywhere in the world has allowed over 700 accounts to be hacked at the same time). So, tell us what the fine is. Is it big enough for BDO to notice?

Bear in mind that BDO’s last declared annual profit was P40 billion.

I recall that in 2016, RCBC was fined P1 billion when it was not clear that it had done anything wrong. The hack was perpetrated on Bank Bangladesh in New York.

If RCBC was fined P1 billion, BDO should pay at least P10 billion./