To complement the liberalized branching regime, the Bangko Sentral has provided further opportunities for rural banks to expand their outreach beyond the brick and mortar structure of their head offices and branches. In 2007, we issued Circular 563 which granted rural banks the authority to invest in ATM networks.
It also formalises capacity-building among the AML/CFT Supervisors and for operators both in the financial and DNFBP sectors. As at date, around twenty capacity-building sessions have been conducted under the aegis of the ICC, allowing our licensees to interact with the regulators, and amongst themselves, on topical matters related to AML/CFT. The 20th meeting of the ICC is scheduled for next week.