benjamin e diokno : launch of the first digital financial inclusion awards speech by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the launch of the first digital financial inclusion awards, manila, 13 march 2022. * * * citi philippines ceo, mr. aftab ahmed ; officers from the microfinance council of the philippines, inc. ( mcpi ) headed by mr. eduardo c. jimenez ; colleagues in the bsp ; fellow financial inclusion advocates ; and friends from the media : good afternoon. it is my pleasure to be with you today to celebrate another milestone with the launch of the first digital financial inclusion awards or dfia. the inaugural dfia marks a new chapter in the enduring partnership of citi philippines, mcpi, and bsp, which began in 2002 with the citi microentrepreneurship awards or cma. apart from building on the successful run of the cma, the dfia coincides with the launch of the new national strategy for financial inclusion or nsfi 2022 – 2028, which focuses on advancing inclusive digital finance and the financing access of micro, small, and medium enterprises or msmes. the dfia is also a timely awards program that reflects the experiences, insights, and lessons learned from the covid - 19 pandemic and conveys our commitment to ensure that every filipino – every microentrepreneur – has the means to flourish in the new, digital economy. for the bsp ’ s part, we remain steadfast in spearheading digitalization efforts and programs supporting msmes and the microfinance sector, which serve as financial lifelines for our microentrepreneurs. our initiatives include bringing digital payments closer to the people by promoting its use in the most common transaction points for most filipinos — the community markets and local transportation services such as tricycles. as such, we continue to actively support the implementation of philsys, our national digital id system. with its e - kyc functionality, philsys will streamline and enhance the onboarding capability of mfis, making it less costly for both the financial institution and the consumer. we also continue to facilitate capacity building and technical assistance for digitalization initiatives of the microfinance sector. there are also efforts to promote responsible use of alternative data to benefit msmes and unbanked individuals with little

focusing on selected suspicious transaction reports ; and 7. lastly, suspicious transaction report quality review : 2017 to 2020 data discovery that covers 2. 4 million strs, which the amlc received from 2017 to 2020 from covered persons and that aims to provide a trend analysis for the covered periods ; assess the technical compliance and investigative value of the strs ; and identify the reporting gaps and challenges of covered persons to provide guidance on how to improve the quality of strs. most of these reports are available on the amlc ’ s website for the guidance of our stakeholders. the amlc has also issued several amendments to aml / ctf regulations this year to strengthen the philippines ’ aml / ctf supervisory framework. with a more robust framework in place, improvements in aml / ctf operations are expected, demonstrating the philippines ’ progress toward a more effective aml / ctf regime. by now, we understand that the country ’ s exit from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring or the grey list requires commitment and cooperation among the public and private sectors in addressing all 18 icrg action plan items. beyond mere compliance, we must grasp that this about fundamentally strengthening our aml / ctf system that would prove beneficial even beyond our lifetimes. and it is through these kinds of conferences, where we are able to synergize various 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches perspectives and, ultimately, regroup and rethink our strategies in beating the money launderers, terrorists and their financiers, and other criminals at their own game. the amlc extends its deepest gratitude for your relentless commitment and energy to combat money laundering and terrorism financing and preserve the integrity of the financial system. thank you. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches