The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued Guidelines on the Establishment of Islamic Banks (IBs) and Islamic Banking (IBUs) pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 11439 or the “Islamic Banking Act”.
The BSP has also issued several other circulars to implement the Islamic Banking Act, including the Shari’ah Governance Framework for IBs and IBUs; Guidelines for Reporting Islamic Banking and Finance Transactions/Arrangements; and the Management of Liquidity Risk by IBs and IBUs. The BSP has also issued a memorandum to address Frequently Asked Questions on Islamic Banking in the Philippines. The BSP has subsequently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), the international standard-setting body for Shari’ah auditing, accounting, and governance, for possible adoption of the AAOIFI standards in the Philippines.
For its part, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has issued Revenue Regulations No. 17-2020 in 2020 to implement the tax neutrality provision of the Islamic Banking Act.