First Gas Power Corp. is planning to borrow $80 million from local banks, and the Lopez-controlled is seeking the approval of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to borrow the said amount, which was said to be higher that what was being considered earlier by the company, which was only $50 million.

The company is the one who owns and operates the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant in Batangas.

The Santa Rita power plant, according to the company’s website, uses natural gas from the Malampaya Gas Field in offshore Northwest Palawan.

The BSP, last week, approved the Philippine National Oil Corp. – Exploration Corp.’s own foreign currency deposit unit (FCDU) loan worth $9 million. The agency said that last year, total FCDU loans decreased by almost nine percent at $4.95 billion compared to what was reported in 2008.

If the basis would be the borrower type, private loans were lower last year at $3.182 billion compared to the $5.334 billion in 2008. Private FCDU loans are mainly availed by public utilities and exporters. Residents accounted for 69 percent total loan portfolio.

By December of this year, we could be having new designs on our peso bills. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) would begin circulating by December the new peso bills, while coins will follow suit after two years.

According to the BSP, aside from having new designs, the new bills and coins will also have new security features which would make it easier to detect counterfeit money.

BSP in its primer said, “As a matter of practice, central banks regularly change the designs of their money – whether coins or banknotes – to guard against counterfeiter. By making it very difficult and costly for counterfeiters to produce exact copies of our money, we protect the integrity of our currency against criminals.”

The peso bills, from the 20-peso to the 1,000-peso, and coins from the one-centavo to the 10-peso, are all up for a facelift. Once the new designs have begun circulating, BSP said the existing peso bills would remain valid and legal tender in the next three years, after which they will be phased out.

“Based on previous currency retirement or demonization program of the BSP, this will give enough time for the public to make a full transition to our new generation currency,” BSP said, adding that there would be a separate schedule for the coins.

The new bills will feature historically important Filipinos, heritage sites and natural wonders. Among the revision in the design is the inclusion of the image of the late former President Corazon C. Aquino in the P500 bill, which already features husband Benigno Aquino, Jr.

The coins will be having national symbols in the new design.

Globe Telecommunications, Inc., together with sister company Ayala Corp., is all set to put up the Philippine’s first mobile microfinance banking unit. That is because the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved the Globe and Ayala’s entry into the banking industry.

The new bank, will be called “BPI Globe Banko, A Savings Bank” will be using Pilipinas Savings Bank. BPI senior vice president Teresita Tan was named president of the new bank. She said it will be launched this month.

Globe will have a 40 percent stake on the new bank, together with BPI who will also get 40 percent. The Ayala Corp. will be having a 20 percent stake on the bank.

The new bank will be nicknamed “Banko” according to Tan, this means “my bank.” She said they would soon open their first branch in Greenhills.

She said, “We’re required by the BSP to have at least one satellite branch per region but this will really be a mobile bank.”

Banko will be offering microfinancing P3,000 to P150,000. It will also offer SMEs (small and medium enterprises) loans worth P150,00 to P500,000, and wholesale funding to microfinance-oriented non-government organizations (NGOs) worth between P500,000 and P80 million.

Personally, as I am wanting to get back to my business soon, this additional channel is a good news to me. I just hope that they open a satellite branch near my place soon.

Only because of the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ondoy, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas permits banks to do “Money Laundering” operations.

Of course, money laundering here does not refer to those wealth which came from questionable sources.

When BSP gave a go signal to money laundering, it refers to changing those soiled bills where were soaked inside banks’ vault during the onslaught of Tropical Storm Ondoy.

Apparently, banks were not spared from flash floods because water can enter the bank’s vault, soaking the bills which were kept inside.

BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., however said that they (banks) should first “dry out” the soaked bills before turning them over to them for replacement.

I guess, the BSP would be releasing early crisp new bills which it usually gives to the banks during Christmas season.

Abaca farmers can now rest easy, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has decided to keep using abaca fiber on Philippine  notes. BSP said abaca fiber will stay as its Numismatic Committed decided to support the domestic abaca industry and dropped the plan to print new bank notes in polymer material.

Armando Suratos, Deputy Governor of BSP, said that 30% of the paper-based material of the current peso bills are strengthened by abaca fibers. “We decided to give the abaca industry a boost by reinforcing our peso bills with strong fiber.”

Suratos added that the Numismatic Committee have already approved a designed for the abaca-reinforced bank notes. He said, “It is undergoing refinement to make it available for printing.”

The Numismatic Committee is headed by BSP Governor Armando Tetangco Jr.

A memorandum from the Bureau of Internal Revenue has declared the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) not a bank and therefore exempted from GRT or gross receipt tax.

The Revenue Memorandum Circular 65-2008, which states that BSP is exempted from GRT and some other taxes was signed by former BIR commissioner Lilian B. Hefti. It was issued to clarify BSP’s taxation status and the legal basis for imposing taxes or implementing tax exemptions for BSP.

The memo states that BSP is not a bank or a non-bank financial intermediary performing quasi-banking functions. The ruling is still in effect, said BSP deputy governor Armando L. Suratos, even if Hefti is no longer BIR chief.

“The memo was a result of almost a year of consultations between the BSP and the BIR (and) we agree with them that BSP is not a bank,” said Suratos. “The (circular) is still in placed.” He said the memo only clarified GRT status and not other taxes, such as value added tax (VAT) which the BSP still pays.

While it clarify BSP’s taxation status, the circular opened other arguments for the institution because of BIR’s declaration that it is not a bank after all.

For one, like a bank, the BSP accepts deposits and releases loans and as a regulatory body, its responsibilities include money, banking and credit. The BIR said that while BSP is not bank, it is engaged in banking activities as per its constitutional and statutory mandates but not for commercial
or business purposes.