Bangko Sentral, Bureau of Treasury Roll Out Automatic Intraday Settlement Facility

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) rolled out the fully automated Intraday Settlement Facility (ISF) for financial institutions (FIs) started last June 2024.

The IFS is made possible by linking BSP’s RTGS system (PhilPaSSplus) with the BTr’s Enhanced National Registry of Scripless Securities. I Photo: patrickroque01 Wikimedia Commons

The facility is available to all eligible FIs that encounter timing mismatches when settling their transactions through the Peso Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Payment System operated by the BSP.

Made possible by linking BSP’s RTGS system (PhilPaSSplus) with the BTr’s Enhanced National Registry of Scripless Securities, the ISF’s full automation is aligned with the BSP’s mandate of promoting a safe, efficient, and reliable mode of funds transfer in support of financial stability.

Aside from preventing gridlocks in the PhilPaSSplus from timing mismatches in the settlement of payments between participants, the ISF is designed to support a quick and efficient paperless process.

This allows PhilPaSSplus participants to obtain funds within a few minutes after initiating a repurchase agreement or repo transaction with the BSP. These funds can cover the participants’ queued or expected outgoing payment instructions in the PhilPaSSplus.

The PhilPaSSplus is the country’s only Peso RTGS system that enables efficient and low-risk settlement of large-value funds transfers between financial institutions.

This system also settles the clearing results of retail payments made by individuals, businesses, and the government using checks, ATMs, InstaPay, and PESONet. The PhilPaSSplus is owned and managed by the BSP, through the Payments and Settlements Department.

The Peso RTGS Payment System has been designated as a systemically important payment system (SIPS).

Under BSP’s Payment System Oversight Framework, SIPS refers to a payment system that poses or has the potential to pose a systemic risk possibly threatening the stability of the national payment system.

Its participants are required to comply with the rules, standards, and requirements promulgated by the BSP and contribute toward ensuring the safety, efficiency, and reliability of the payment system.