BPI CEO: PH Bank Secrecy Law 'Too Strict,' Needs Modernization

The Philippines might be clinging too tightly to one of banking’s oldest sacred cows, and one of dirty money’s most durable shields. The man running Southeast Asia’s oldest bank might have something to say about that. In an interview with Rappler, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) president and chief executive officer TG Limcaoco said the country’s bank secrecy regime remains unusually strict compared with those of most jurisdictions. Limcaoco would not comment on the case itself. But asked for his personal view on bank secrecy, he was slightly less guarded. “If you ask me for my personal opinion about bank secrecy, I think very few countries have bank secrecy laws as strict as ours,” he told Rappler on Saturday, August 1. “And I know that many people in government are trying to work to be more compliant with the Financial Action Task Force. Luckily, we’re out of the gray list already. But that’s constantly something that the FATF holds against us.” (READ: In a boon for OFWs, FATF removes Philippines from ‘gray list’) Limcaoco stopped short of explicitly calling for bank secrecy to be abolished. Still, coming from the head of BPI, a 175-year-old institution that bills itself as Southeast Asia’s first bank and remains one of the Philippines’ largest lenders, the message was not difficult to read. His remarks come as the limits and exceptions of Philippine bank secrecy came under renewed scrutiny in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, where BPI was among the banks ordered to produce records. Limcaoco said his bank had already complied with the Senate impeachment court’s subpoena. “We will comply with all the laws,” Limcaoco said. “Thursday, we submitted the documents that were subpoenaed because we’re just complying with the subpoena and the law.” BPI’s Julia Vargas and Greenhills EDSA branches were among those ordered to produce peso-denominated records linked to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio. Prosecutors sought records covering 2007 to 2025 to establish a financial baseline for their allegation that the Vice President amassed unexplained wealth, which she denies. But the connection here is deeper. The Julia Vargas branch, in particular, comes with some political history. It was dragged into the bitter final stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign after then-senator Antonio Trillanes IV alleged that then-Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte held an undeclared account there jointly with Sara. Duterte initially called the allegation “fabricated,” later acknowledged that the account existed but disputed the amounts attributed to it, and did not release the complete transaction history demanded by Trillanes. The controversy placed BPI in the political crossfire. Duterte supporters threatened to close their accounts, while questions swirled over how purported transaction details had reached the senator. BPI later denied that it had breached client confidentiality. Limcaoco, then an Ayala Corporation executive and former president of BPI Family Savings Bank, also pushed back. “I don’t know where Senator Trillanes got his information,” he told Rappler at the time, adding that a graphic showing the alleged credits was “not a BPI document.” Ten years later, the same Julia Vargas branch again surfaced in a Duterte money trail controversy. Must Read ‘Bank documents don’t lie’: Financial records can trace Duterte’s money trail – ex-prosecutor A dollar-shaped flaw Back to the impeachment of Sara: there’s an unfortunate gap in that subpoena because it stops where the dollars begin. The impeachment court limited its order to peso-denominated accounts. The 1955 Bank Secrecy Law expressly allows inquiries in impeachment cases, but the Foreign Currency Deposit Act contains no equivalent exception. That distinction could leave prosecutors with only part of any financial trail. This legal loophole has already drawn the ire of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Elmore Capule. “The other day, the impeachment court issued an order to open bank deposits. But lo and behold, you cannot open FCDU deposits,” Capule said, arguing that secrecy can be used to conceal illegal activity. Another top banker to clap back against bank secrecy is global investment banker Stephen CuUnjieng, now an independent director of Maharlika Investment Corporation and a veteran of Evercore, Macquarie, Merrill Lynch, and Salomon Brothers. “Only people with dirty money have to hide it,” CuUnjieng said during an interview on ANC’s Market Edge. “I think the bank secrecy law as done in the Philippines is an anachronism which is not shared by most other countries.” CuUnjieng pointed out that even Singapore and Switzerland have loosened the shields around bank accounts that criminals and tax evaders could once exploit with greater ease. Both financial centers still protect legitimate customer confidentiality. But they now allow records to be obtained and shared through criminal investigations and international tax agreements. Singapore, for instance, compelled DBS and OCBC to release financial documents connected to the Wirecard scandal. Switzerland has likewise helped foreign authorities obtain banking evidence, including records used to trace bribes in the VimpelCom corruption case. “These are established financial centers. And if they can still prosper without it, what makes us so special? I think it’s overdue,” the investment banker said. – Rappler.com