By Riza Lozada Monetary offi­cials plan to re­store regulatory incentives for bank mergers and acqui­sitions (M&A) to further strengthen the banking in­dustry, BSP Deputy Gover­nor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said.

The House committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries has passed the proposal to amend the charter of the Bangko Sen­tral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The Department of Finance (DOF) recently released its Peo­ple’s Freedom of Information (FOI) manual in keeping with the people’s constitutional right to information and the govern­ment’s policy of full disclosure of its transactions involving public interest, subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law.

International payments service firm Visa has hosted its first-ever Financial Literacy Day for students in Manila, in cooperation with Teach for the Philippines (TFP) and the Money Museum at Bang­ko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

State pension fund Govern­ment Service Insurance System (GSIS) was chosen as a finalist in the Technology Innovation Award at the 7th World Pension Summit held last November 10 at The Hague, Netherlands.

By Riza Lozada The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved bourse trading in US dollars or the so-called US-Dollar Denominated Securities (DDS) at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to provide issuers an opportunity to raise capital without incurring foreign exchange risks.

By Riza Lozada Listed PAL Holdings Inc. reported a nine-month profit of P2.96 billion, lower by 54.8 percent from a year ago.

Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT), International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s (ICTSI) Iraqi unit operating at the Port of Umm Qasr, was recently conferred the “Contribution to the Development of the Regional Maritime Cluster Award” at the 2016 Seatrade Maritime Awards for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa.

By Riza Lozada Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew 4.7 percent in the first nine months to $20 billion after $2.6 billion in money transfers were recorded in September.

Three new directors were named to the board of the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). They are Luis Bonguyan, Emmanuel Galicia Jr., and Rolando Metin vice Daniel Laogan, Reynaldo Geronimo, and Cecilio Lorenzo.