Bank execs should take more active role in monitoring risk-taking — BSP

Banks' boards of directors have a crucial role in maintaining prudent investment standards—and so they should be more active in monitoring their organizations’ risk-taking activities, an official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Wednesday. “Directors have the fundamental responsibility to learn about the risks that banks are exposed to and to ensure that these risks are well managed,” BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said at a forum on good corporate governance organized by the Institute of Corporate Directors. Banks must ensure the safety of the deposits entrusted to them by the public, he said, and having board directors who are keen on preventing excessive risk taking will help banks prevent crisis situations caused by careless investment decisions. Espenilla said that having a more proactive board of directors is consistent with the objective of making banks compliant with international standards on good corporate governance. — BM, GMA News