Question & AnswerQ&A (BSP CIRCULAR LETTER)
The allowed modes for servicing import payments are Letter of Credit (LC), Documents against Payment (D/P), Documents against Acceptance (D/A), or Open Account Arrangement (O/A).
The commercial bank must require the presentation of the complete original shipping documents.
Yes, provided that the importer-client certifies the breakdown of foreign exchange purchases and that the selling/servicing bank remits the foreign exchange to the booking/remitting bank with the appropriate invoice and registration details.
The importer must indicate the name of selling bank/entity, date of purchases, amount purchased, remaining balance, and for D/A or O/A arrangements, the Record of Goods Imported (RGI) Number and BSP Registration Number. This information must be certified as correct by the treasurer or higher officer of the company.
The selling/servicing bank shall remit the foreign exchange sold to the booking/remitting bank and indicate in the payment instructions the particular invoice number covered, along with the corresponding RGI Number and BSP Registration Number.
The selling bank must require the importer to provide a certified application letter detailing the lending bank's name, original loan amount, due date, outstanding loan balance, purpose of loan, and invoice number and amount of the import bill liquidated by the loan proceeds. The foreign exchange sold must be remitted to the lending bank with loan account information.
A Senior Officer of the booking/remitting bank or the lending bank must certify that such measures have been taken to prevent over-purchase of foreign exchange.
The importer-client may be subject to watchlisting by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Yes, all supporting documents must be made available for verification by examining BSP Bank Officers.
The Circular Letter took effect immediately upon its adoption on March 31, 1998.