BSP, DoLE draft outsource rules for banking sector

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) are in the process of crafting new guidelines governing outsourcing of jobs in the banking industry.

The new guidelines are intended to harmonize the regulations on outsourcing currently covered by BSP Circular 268 and DoLE Department Order 18-02, which both contain conflicting provisions on outsourcing in the banking industry.

The move to craft new guidelines was prompted by grave concerns of National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) on the outsourcing of jobs of regular workers in the banking industry in the face of very liberal provisions in BSP Circular 268. “Outsourcing has become rampant since the enactment of BSP Circular 268 and has resulted in job losses,” NUBE national president Jose Umali Jr. stressed.

During the colloquium on “What Makes a Bank a Bank” organized jointly by the DoLE’s Bureau of Labor Relations and NUBE held recently, Johnny Noe Ravalo, BSP managing director, outlined seven proposed areas that “will effectively be deemed as inherent to a bank.”

These areas are deposit-taking, lending, management functions, activities covered by specific guideline and license, compliance functions, internal audit and risk management. According to Ravalo, these areas are the core of the proposed revisions to the existing outsourcing framework. –Daily Tribune