The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is aiding in the development of an industry-led self-governing body that will develop its own membership, participation, procedures, and open finance standards.

In an online press conference on Thursday, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said that the central bank sees the value of putting the industry’s governance under a single entity with an explicit structured self-governance structure where industry standards and inter-participant business rules are housed, as part of the open finance ecosystem.

He announced the formation of the Open Finance Oversight Committee with this statement (OFOC).

“The OFOC shall include representatives from banks from each classification: universal/commercial, thrift, rural and digital; non- bank financial institutions, electronic money issuers, operators of payment systems, and other relevant sectors,” Diokno explained.

The committee will define its own membership and participation rules, as well as its own standards and procedures.

He further said that the OFOC will encourage nondiscriminatory membership by ensuring that major financial industry interests are adequately represented, as well as that all participants and membership applicants are treated equally and consistently.

“With the Committee and the Framework in place, we hope to further address digital connectivity gaps in the country, with the help of our stakeholders,” the Bangko Sentral chief emphasized.

“This is aligned with our pursuit of financial inclusion through digital transformation.”

According to the central bank, the development of OFOC is a key component of the Open Finance Framework detailed in BSP Circular 1122. It governs the customer-allowed sharing of financial data that is seen to create innovative financial solutions for both customers and financial institutions.

The framework highlights that consent-driven data portability, interoperability, and collaborative partnerships across entities conforming to the same data security and privacy standards are supported.

The Bangko Sentral said the underlying idea is that consumers own transaction data and that it should only be shared if they want it. Individuals will be able to authorize access to their financial information as a result of this. Doing so will shape a customer-centric product development objective.