Service Beyond Money and Business – ARCCO officially launches in the Philippines

The Association of Remittance Company Compliance Officers- Philippines, Inc. (ARCCO) held its official launching ceremony through a seminar-workshop aptly themed “MSB: Service Beyond Money and Business” at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City on April 26, 2019.  The event was widely attended by both members and non-members of the organization, compliance officers and stakeholders of various local and international money service business (MSB) entities and high ranking officials of government regulators such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Secretariat.

As the keynote speaker of the first annual forum for ARCCO, Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier of the BSP emphasized the importance of the continuing collaboration and partnerships between the BSP and the MSB industry.  DG Fonacier commended ARCCO and its members’ initiative to conduct an annual forum. She noted, “This forum is an expected outcome of the diligence and perseverance of your esteemed group of incorporators who, for the last five years, have been working towards the achievement of ARCCO’s vision to become a leading association of professionals in the money service business industry. Indeed, this forum, where compliance officers from MSBs are gathered to take on the future challenges in the industry, is an important milestone in the MSB industry.”

Meanwhile, Director Dindo Santos of the Financial Services Division 9 (FSD-9), the BSP’s supervising agency over the MSB entities lectured on the current remittance industry landscape, regulatory and supervisory approach and expectations of the regulators from the remittance industry. Director Santos reminded the MSBs of the three lines of defense that an entity should establish and uphold: (1) training, (2) proper risk management and (3) internal audit and controls.  Summing up his lecture and keeping with the event’s theme, his parting words were, “Compliance Officers must find balance that manages risk well and keeps management, business units protected, customers delighted and regulators happy.”

Atty. Irene Isidoro-Torres and Atty. Guada Vergel de Dios, then Vice-President and Corporate Secretary of ARCCO, respectively, and both registered Data Privacy Officers (DPO) with the National Privacy Commission shared their insights on how data and information have emerged as a new oil for businesses worldwide citing the successes of Uber, Air BnB, Alibaba and Facebook and why the global trend is to regulate the use of data.  Both emphasized the need to adhere to the principle of transparency and proportionality when companies obtain and use personal information of private individuals. As DPOs, they advised entities the following basic steps towards compliance to the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and its implementing rules and regulations: (1) Appoint a Data Privacy Officer, (2) Conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment, (3) Formulate a Privacy Management Program and (4) establish a Breach Reporting Procedure.

Executive Director Mel Georgie Racela of the AMLC Secretariat provided a comprehensive and extensive lecture on the national risk assessment (NRA) that the Philippine government has conducted to assess the overall exposure of the country to money laundering and its related predicate offenses, terrorism and terrorist financing. The NRA is a comprehensive process of identifying and analyzing the ML/TF risks within the realm of the supervised sectors, financial institutions, and covered persons and entities under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, as amended. Atty. Racela shared the results of the first NRA covering the period 2011-2014 and stated that banks and money service businesses were identified to be the sectors primarily and widely used by criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes. As a result of these findings, action items were identified and corrective actions were later on being implemented by the AMLC through reorganization and regulatory issuances which covered persons are expected to adhere to.

ARCCO President Atty. Myth Ahlee Diaz welcomed the attendees and shared a brief history of how ARCCO was formed and established as an association, its guiding principles and mission-vision as it begins its journey towards being the country’s most far reaching and inclusive association of compliance officers from the MSB industry.

Attendees were given the chance to listen and interact with event sponsors during session breaks while scrumptious food were served. Valuable raffle prizes such as buffet tickets and jewelries were drawn among the attendees. Everyone went home on that Friday night, not just with corporate give-aways, but also key take-aways from the sessions.