Philippines tightens digital bank rules as payments evolve

Homepage > News > Finance > Philippines tightens digital bank rules as payments evolve TL;DR: Banks are adapting to a more digital financial system as regulators and financial institutions strengthen infrastructure, risk controls, and payment connectivity. The Philippines‘ central bank is applying stricter capital and prudential requirements to banks adopting digital-bank models, while IBM and SWIFT are advancing tokenized deposit infrastructure, and BNY is enabling cross-border payments directly to digital wallets. Key Takeaways: The BSP requires banks adopting digital-bank models to meet the $15 million minimum capital requirement and applicable digital-bank prudential standards. BSP Circular No. 1240 allows additional safeguards, including stronger reporting, risk management, and internal controls for banks with expanding digital operations. IBM is integrating SWIFT’s shared ledger with Digital Asset Haven to support tokenized deposits and digital asset operations. BNY’s Pay-to-Wallet enables participating banks to send cross-border payments directly to retail digital wallets through existing SWIFT infrastructure. Digital wallets account for about half of point-of-sale ...