The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has taken a significant step to strengthen the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime by issuing Memorandum No. M-2025-017 on May 27. The directive mandates all BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) to integrate adverse media screening—also referred to as Negative Media Reports (NMR) screening—into their Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and risk management processes.
This move aims to ensure financial institutions proactively assess not just the financial behavior of their clients, but also their reputational and operational risk exposure through publicly available information and credible news sources.
Key Measures and Compliance Requirements:
Under the new guidelines, BSFIs must:
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Incorporate adverse media screening into both customer onboarding and ongoing transaction monitoring processes. This includes scrutiny of Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs), authorized signatories, and other relevant counterparties.
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Reassess existing customer relationships in light of newly surfaced negative media reports and update risk profiles accordingly.
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Maintain a current and comprehensive database of negative media sources and flagged individuals or entities. This database should be integrated into the institution’s CDD and transaction monitoring systems to ensure consistency and traceability.
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Apply risk-based measures when adverse media results raise red flags. These may include enhanced due diligence (EDD), suspicious transaction report (STR) filings, account restrictions, or even termination of relationships, depending on the level of assessed risk.
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Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to evaluate potential reputational and operational threats posed by clients identified through adverse media screening.
The memorandum serves as a complementary measure to existing transaction monitoring mechanisms and is aligned with global best practices recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The BSP emphasizes that adverse media can provide early indicators of illicit behavior or criminal exposure, even before formal charges or convictions are made.
Strengthening Financial System Integrity
By institutionalizing NMR screening, the BSP aims to promote a more vigilant and forward-looking compliance culture across the banking and financial services sector. The central bank has reiterated that this is part of a broader push to mitigate financial crime risks and ensure that Philippine financial institutions are not inadvertently used for money laundering or terrorism financing.
The BSP further urged BSFIs to implement these measures without delay, stressing the need for a dynamic and adaptive approach to due diligence, especially as threat vectors continue to evolve in both complexity and scope.
For more information, the full memorandum can be accessed below.
By FCCT Editorial Team freeslots dinogame telegram营销
