into the microfinance market by reducing barriers and providing incentives, while at the same time, ensuring that players act, and their operations conducted, in a safe and prudent manner. in particular, we put in place the needed measures that cover the full credit cycle of microfinance from loan application to full repayment. following the principle of proportionality, we allowed less documentary requirements and enabled the use of group support or liability arrangements, cash flow based and character lending, and high frequency amortizations. we balanced that with demanding and timely loan review and loss provisioning. we also provided a mechanism for unregulated microfinance institutions to formalize themselves into banks. regulations were likewise established to leverage off technology to more efficiently and costeffectively reach out to more microenterprises across our archipelago of 7, 107 islands. and in 2007, we created a full - time unit in the bsp to look into financial inclusion issues. bis central bankers ’ speeches this approach enabled over 170 banks – mostly our rural banks – to deliver microfinance services to nearly 1. 5 million microentrepreneurs. the outstanding loans to these microentrepreneurs are at php 11. 3 billion, a 333 % increase from the 2002 levels of php 2. 6 billion. the banks have also enabled these clients to save for the first time in their lives. at present, these microentrepreneurs have accumulated savings of around php 4. 5 billion. moreover, the generation of related new business opportunities that cater to the low income and the unbanked, e. g., micro - insurance, micro - housing loans and remittances, has enabled them to expand their markets and client base without compromising, in fact in some cases, even strengthening their institutional stability. while these numbers were encouraging, and as we were getting more microenterprises into the formal financial sector, we also knew that we needed to better appreciate how these newly on - boarded enterprises would affect ( in the long run ) the financial markets they were entering. fortunately, the rest of the acc governors went along with our suggestion in 2014, and so we are here today. but, as you can appreciate from the topics of our conference, the bis has pushed the envelope further on that research agenda. for the next day and half, we will be covering the full mandate of central banking, not just financial stability but monetary policy and the growth objective as well

benjamin e diokno : keynote message - eccp ai + financial services future of fintech keynote message by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), during the during the eccp ( european chamber of commerce of the philippines ) ai + financial services future of fintech, 21 july 2021. * * * friends and colleagues from the european chamber of commerce of the philippines and fairs and more, inc., esteemed guest speakers, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant afternoon to all. i ’ m glad to be a part of the ai + forum series wherein we hope to have more strategic discussions about financial technology and how the financial services industry can leverage on technological advancements such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, among others, in designing and providing more customer - centric financial products and services. in just the last ten ( 10 ) years, we ’ ve all witnessed how technology has dramatically advanced and elevated our day - to - day living. from augmented reality games to self - driving cars ; from voicecontrolled home devices to life - saving medicines ; from office productivity tools to space exploration journeys ; the possibilities are indeed limitless. personally, i was astonished to recently learn about deepfakes. such advances in artificial intelligence are both exceptional and admittedly, disturbing at the same time. after the initial disbelief and amazement wears off, you soon realize how destructive this technology might be if used for ill purposes. perhaps this is the reason why there is still some resistance in fully embracing technology when it comes to providing financial services, particularly in banking. because banking, at its very core, is built on trust between the financial institution and its customers. trust is not built overnight, but is diligently earned over a period of time. despite the apprehensions, we cannot fully dismiss the potentials that financial technology has to offer, especially in bridging the financial inclusion gap. what good is it to have the perfect financial system if only a handful in society gets to benefit from it? thus, we need to set aside our fears and prejudices and transform existing challenges to life - changing opportunities by striking the right balance between innovation and regulation. the bsp has fervently sought to capitalize on such development. our goal has always been to enable a conducive environment for both incumbent banks and fintechs to harness their full potential with regard to their journey