Compliance, Anti-Money Laundering, and FATCA

This ensures that, across the entire spectrum of our areas of activity, the Bank and its stakeholders are protected as comprehensively as possible from business risks. We value most our reputation and the fact that we are trusted by our shareholders, our clients, our employees, our business partners, and members of the communities we serve.

Business or compliance risk, which can be defined as the risk of regulatory or legal sanctions, material financial loss, or loss to reputation a bank may suffer as a result of its failure to comply with laws, regulations, rules, related self-regulatory organization standards, and codes of conduct applicable to its banking activities, is addressed and managed within the Bank through its compliance function and its component system and program.

Under Monetary Board Resolution No.116 dated January 20, 2011, BSP Circular 747 Series of 2012 on the Revised Compliance Framework for Banks, effective implementation of the compliance function requires establishment of a robust, dynamically-responsive, distinctly-appropriate compliance system, and a formal, defined compliance program.

The compliance system is critically important to identify, evaluate, and address regulatory and reputational risk. The enterprise-wide compliance program helps the Bank to look at and across business lines as a whole, and to consider how activities in one area of the Bank may affect the business or compliance risks of other business lines and the entire group/enterprise.

The compliance program also helps management to understand where in the organization such risks are concentrated, to provide comparisons of the level and changing nature of risks, and identify control processes that need most enhancement.

The Board of Directors, through the Audit Committee, provides oversight of the management of the Bank's business risk and the implementation of its compliance function. At management level, the compliance function is carried out by the Compliance Office, led by our Chief Compliance Officer.

Read the full biography of the Chief Compliance Officer.

The Compliance Office oversees the implementation of the Bank's enterprise-wide compliance programs. These programs take into account the size and complexity of the Bank, the relevant rules and regulations that affect its operations, and the business risks that may arise due to non-compliance. By using regulatory and self-assessment compliance matrices, measures are formulated to mitigate identified risks and tested to ensure effectiveness.

The Compliance Office is currently organized to cover Regulatory Compliance, Corporate Governance, Anti-Money Laundering Compliance, FATCA Compliance, and the Data Privacy Office. Considering rapid regulatory developments and the growing complexity of bank products, services, and transactions, the Compliance Office evolves in its coverage of compliance practice areas to anticipate and meet forward challenges. Enhancement of our compliance function’s scope and domain is redefined for new and emerging sources of compliance risk.

The Compliance Office applies a three-layered compliance testing and monitoring process, which includes unit self-assessment testing; independent random testing, performed by the compliance office; and independent periodic review by the Bank’s Internal Audit unit.

The Compliance Office promotes adherence through a compliance database accessible to all employees, and ensures the prompt dissemination of new regulations and other developments through continued dialogue with regulators.