The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has decided to extend the testing period and implementation of the International Transaction Reporting System (ITRS) in order to address technical concerns raised by banks.
In a memo signed by BSP Senior Assistant Governor Iluminada Sicat, the central bank revised the timeline for the implementation of the new foreign exchange reporting system. The testing period for the ITRS has been extended until May of next year, from the previous deadline of June 2024. The full implementation is now scheduled for June 2, 2025.
According to the BSP, the extension of the implementation timeline is necessary to allow banks and the project team enough time to address any technical or report-related issues before the system is fully put into place.
The ITRS is a data collection system that collects information from banks on peso and foreign currency transactions between a country’s residents and non-residents, as well as transactions between residents that go through the domestic banking system. Banks are required to submit reports of all such transactions through a production portal using an application programming interface (API) in extensible markup language (XML) format.
During the testing period, banks have the option to submit their test reports through the sandbox or production portals of the ITRS system. Banks are also encouraged to diligently set up their systems and conduct thorough testing to ensure readiness for the full implementation of the reporting system by June of next year.
Upon full implementation, all banks will be mandated to submit reports via the ITRS production portal. The BSP stated that this memorandum supersedes prior communications to banks on the schedule of the ITRS implementation. Additionally, the central bank noted that FX Form 1/1A reports should be regularly submitted according to existing policy until further instructions are given by the BSP.
