21/03/23

ASIA: Philippines SEC to share data with other agencies vs money laundering.

As published on news.abs-cbn.com, Tuesday 21 March, 2023.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said it signed a data sharing agreement (DSA) on beneficial ownership with key government agencies in a bid to intensify the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

In a statement, the SEC said it signed the DSA with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) last Feb. 28.

The deal will allow the SEC to give timely access to accurate and adequate beneficial ownership information to competent authorities, in line with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

FATF is an intergovernmental money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog that sets international standards to prevent such illegal activities.

The SEC said it collects beneficial ownership information from its regulated agencies through a number of circulars it has previously released.

"Information gathered by the Commission through the aforementioned circulars play a vital role in identifying the natural person/s maintaining ultimate effective control of the corporation," the regulator said.

The SEC said beneficial owners of a corporation are distinguished from legal owners, which are defined as natural or juridicial persons, who, in accordance with the law, owns or has the controlling ownership interest over the corporation, or has the ability of taking relevant decisions within the corporation and imposing those resolutions.

The deal will also protect personal and sensitive data by incorporating measures provided under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and other related circulars issued by the National Privacy Commission, the SEC said.