PERA Act Implementation Amendments

The circular amends Subsections X901.1/4901Q.1, X405.1/4405Q.1, and X405.5/4405Q.5 of the MORB and MORNBFI.
Section 1 amends Subsection X901.1 (Annual fees on banks) in the MORB.
Section 2 amends Subsection 4901Q.1 (Annual fees on quasi-banks) in the MORNBFI.
Section 3 amends Subsection X405.1/4405Q.1 (Basic security deposit) in both manuals.
Section 4 amends Subsection X405.5/4405Q.5 (Reserves against peso-denominated Common Trust Funds and Trust and Other Fiduciary Accounts) in both manuals.

For computing the annual fees chargeable against banks, Subsection X901.1 defines “Total Assessable Assets” as the amount referred to as total assets under Section 28 of R.A. No. 7653 (end-of-month total assets per balance sheet, after deducting cash on hand and amounts due from banks, including the BSP and banks abroad), plus Trust Department accounts and PERA accounts administered by the bank.
For computing the annual fees chargeable against quasi-banks (QBs), Subsection 4901Q.1 requires QBs to contribute an annual fee to help defray the cost of maintaining the appropriate department of the SES.
For the annual-fee computation for QBs, “Total Assessable Assets” is defined as the amount referred to as total assets under Section 28 of R.A. No. 7653 (end-of-quarter total assets per balance sheet, after deducting cash on hand and amounts due from banks, including the BSP and banks abroad), plus Trust Department accounts and PERA accounts administered by the quasi-bank.

Under Subsection X405.1/4405Q.1, a bank/institution authorized to engage in trust and other fiduciary business must deposit with the BSP eligible government securities as security for the faithful performance of its trust and other fiduciary duties.
The basic security deposit must be equivalent to at least one percent (1%) of the book value of the total volume of trust, other fiduciary and investment management assets.
The deposit must never be less than P500,000 at any time.
Scripless securities under the Registry of Scripless Securities (RoSS) System of the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) may be used as basic security deposit for trust and other fiduciary duties using the Guidelines enumerated in Appendix 34/Q-21 of this Manual.
The security for the faithful performance of the PERA Administrator must be separately accounted for and calculated as prescribed under Section X960/4960Q and Appendix 34a/Q-A?21a of this Manual.

Under Subsection X405.5/4405Q.5, in addition to the basic security deposit, a bank/institution authorized to engage in trust and other fiduciary business must maintain reserves on peso-denominated Common Trust Funds (CTFs) and on Trust and Other Fiduciary Accounts (TOFA).
For TOFA - Others, banks/institutions must maintain reserves on TOFA-Others, but the reserves requirement does not apply to specified account categories.
The following account categories are excluded from the TOFA-Others reserves requirement under Subsection X405.5/4405Q.5:
- (1) Administratorship
- (2) Bond Issues/Other Obligations Under Deed of Trust or Mortgage
- (3) Custodianship and Safekeeping
- (4) Depository and Reorganization
- (5) Employee Benefit plans Under Trust
- (6) Escrow
- (7) Personal Trust (testamentary or living trust)
- (8) Executorship
- (9) Guardianship
- (10) Life Insurance Trust
- (11) Pre-need Plans (institutional/individual)
- (12) Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA)

Section 5 provides that BSP Circular No. 878 takes effect fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.