The Philippines’ central bank has started public consultations on a pilot project to explore the use of digital technologies in the delivery of financial products and services, and the sharing of customer data.

In a statement, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Felipe Medalla asked interested parties to participate in the consultation on the Philippine Open Finance Pilot project.

“We call on our BSFIs [BSP-supervised financial institutions] and third-party providers to proactively take part in the development of technical and operational standards and arrangements and carefully scrutinize the fundamental elements necessary in the establishment of a vibrant open finance ecosystem in the country,” Medalla says.

The project is envisioned to be a “collaborative undertaking” of financial institutions and third-party providers to explore the use of application programming interface (API) technologies in the delivery of financial products and services responsive to the needs of customers.

The project will be supported by the International Financial Corporation, and will be monitored by the Open Finance Oversight Committee Transition Group, a coalition of industries including banks, electronic money issuers, operators of payment systems, and financial technology firms. 

Locally, the project will also be governed by BSP Circular No. 1122. The circular, released in June 2021, introduced the country’s open finance framework, which will allow for customer consent-driven data sharing among institutions that follow the same data security standards.

The BSP says the PH Open Finance Pilot is an important initiative in promoting a responsive, inclusive, and responsible digital financial ecosystem that is characterized by innovation-driven use of consumer data. The central bank hopes the initiative will help it reach its goal of digitizing 50% of retail transactions by end-2023. 

Interested parties can send their comments to the Philippine Open Finance website at www.openfinanceph.org.