Supervision fees set for NBFIs

January 11, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has imposed an annual supervision fees on non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) with trust authority as part of amendments to the central bank’s regulations on trust and other fiduciary activities.

In Circular 1228, the BSP said the Monetary Board approved the amendment of the Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions (MORNBFI) to “provide guidelines on annual supervision fees for NBFIs with trust authority.”

Under the new rules, “an NBFI with trust authority shall pay to the BSP an annual supervision fee equivalent to one twenty-eighth (1/28) of one percent multiplied by its average assessable assets in the preceding year.”

The circular defined average assessable assets as “the sum of month-end balances of total assessable assets divided by the number of months in operation during a particular assessment period,” adding that total assessable assets refer to “the total assets under management by the trust department, excluding securities held under custodianship.”

The BSP said the annual supervision fee “shall be paid by NBFIs with trust authority on or before May 31 of every year,” warning that “non-payment of the supervision fee within the prescribed period shall subject the concerned NBFI with trust authority to administrative sanctions.”

The central bank also clarified that the guidelines on the collection of the annual supervision fee are provided in a new appendix of the MORNBFI. Under these rules, the appropriate supervising department of the BSP will send a billing notice indicating, among others, “the computation of the ASF due, the period covered by the ASF, and the mode of payment.”

Upon receipt of the notice, NBFIs are encouraged “to check the accuracy of the billing and to submit the noted exceptions therein not later than 10 banking days before the specified deadline of payment,” with any exception received after the cut-off date to be considered in the computation of the fee for the immediately succeeding year.

The circular further stated that pursuant to Bureau of Internal Revenue regulations, “the income derived by the BSP, including but not limited to supervisory fees, shall be exempt from national internal revenue taxes,” adding that NBFIs with trust authority “no longer need to withhold tax on their payment of ASF to the Bangko Sentral.”

BSP Deputy Governor Lyn Javier said the circular sets an annual supervision fee for NBFIs with trust departments and that the collection of the fee, “which is anchored on the provisions of the New Central Bank Act, as amended, helps defray the cost of maintaining appropriate supervisory resources within the BSP.”

She added that the fee is based on the assets under management of the trust department and that “the rate to be applied is similar with the rate paid on the AUM of banks with trust departments.”

According to Javier, “the collection of the ASF for NBFIs with trust authority will begin this year.”

The BSP said the new rule would apply starting with the reference year ended Dec. 31, 2025. The circular will take effect 15 calendar days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.