Reforms urged to strengthen financial system

The government needs to institute reforms to improve and strengthen the financial system in the wake of the recent developments in the US, Senator Edgardo Angara said yesterday.

Angara said the government needs to prepare for the threats of a global economic slowdown that may affect the Philippine financial market and economy.

“The banking reforms of the past years are paying off, making the Philippine financial market capable of absorbing shocks,” said Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies.

Nonetheless, he said the financial system is not safe from the repercussions of the global credit crisis.

US investment banks Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have gone bankrupt, recent developments that sent jitters to financial markets across the globe including the Philippines.

As such, Angara said that more structural reforms need to be established to ensure that the financial system remains resilient.

The lawmaker said there was a need to pass the Corporate Recovery Act, and the Collective Investment Schemes Law, which are all in plenary in the Senate.

“Now is the time to fast track all financial reforms. Crisis such as this scale have underscored the immediate impacts of reforms we are trying to undertake. And through continued financial reforms, the Philippines will be in a better position to face global financial turbulence,” Angara said.