On Feb.y 16, 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act (RA) 11523, or the “Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Act” (FIST), which seeks to aid banks and other credit-granting financial institutions (FIs) to cushion the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic by allowing them to offload bad loans. Under the FIST Act, covered FIs are allowed to clean up their books by selling or transferring their bad loans or assets to financial strategic transfer corporations (FISTCs). The SPV Act did not cover insurance companies, lending companies, and other institutions licensed by the BSP authorized to perform credit-granting activities. It should be noted that entities previously-created under the SPV Act are also qualified to avail of the privileges and incentives under the FIST Act. She is a corporate, mergers and acquisition, and tax lawyer and is the president of the Asia-Oceana Tax Consultants’ Association.

Source: Manila Times March 24, 2021 16:41 UTC