(The Philippines) – Philippine’s Central Bank has approved a plan to compel banks to change their external auditors every three years in another post-the Enron reaction.The Central Bank notes that most banks do change their external auditors regularly already but all lenders are being compelled to adopt prudent corporate practices.
External auditors are also now required to report to the Central Bank any findings of fraud or dishonesty likely to reduce a bank’s capital funds by one percent or more.
Similar moves are already afoot in Singapore, where the Monetary Authority of Singapore has recently ordered local banks to rotate their audit firms every five years.