eli m remolona : digital bridges for financial inclusion speech by mr eli m remolona, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the media launch of the 3rd digital financial inclusion awards, manila, 20 march 2024. * * * magandang hapon sa inyong lahat. we at the bangko sentral [ ng pilipinas ] ( bsp ) are pleased to launch the third digital financial inclusion awards ( dfia ) in partnership with the microfinance council of the philippines, inc. ( mcpi ). the mcpi is led by gilbert maramba and paul favila [ for ] citi philippines. this event shows the strength of the partnership among mcpi, citi, and the bsp in promoting financial inclusion through the digitalization of microfinance. i think digitalization is the secret sauce. parang bagoong sa kare - kare. so, we thank the members of the national selection committee of our awards program. they have chosen inspiring leaders from a broad cross - section of our economy. all these leaders shared their time and expertise to support financial inclusion through the digitalization of microfinance institutions ( mfi ). to us at the bsp, financial inclusion is an undertaking that requires a whole - of - nation collaboration. every form of support matters, whether from the private sector, ngos [ non - government organizations ], multilateral institutions, local governments, microentrepreneurs, microfinance institutions, or the media. the national strategy for financial inclusion ( nsfi ) of 2022 - 2028 defines financial inclusion as a state where everyone, especially the vulnerable, has access to a wide range of financial services. to us, microfinance remains integral to the initiatives and programs in the nsfi. here is where we stand. as of the third quarter of 2023, 138 banks engaged in microfinance served approximately 1. 9 million borrowers. non - bank microfinance institutions, such as cooperatives, supported 9. 7 million members by the end of 2021. microfinance ngos catered to 6. 6 million clients as of 2022. if microfinance institutions adopt innovative financial services, especially through digitalization, we expect additional benefits that would generate better reach and better quality of services. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches this is where the d

at regional locations and in local languages for the convenience of banks. as of now, 1307 directors have been given training apart from 1004 ceos, 2078 officials and 341 liquidators / administrators / auditors including chartered accountants. financial inclusion for an inclusive growth traditionally, we have seen and observed that the poor have not been welcomed to the banking fold by the banks and financial institutions with a misconception that they are not bankable and there is no business opportunity in offering services to the under - privileged and poor people in the semi - urban rural and slum - dwellers in the metropolitan cities. banks and financial institutions had been till recent times financially excluding these people on the pretext that : • they have no or few assets, • they have nothing to offer as collateral, • they have no business experiences, • they cannot be trained for availing financial services, • they have no credit history, and • they cannot understand the nuances of banking due to illiteracy or less education. given the belief that credit is a human right as advocated by nobel laureate professor muhammad yunus, and the poor can overcome poverty by generating their own employment and income, we have to develop a financial system which takes care of the needs of the poor on an urgent basis. access to affordable financial services – especially credit and insurance – enlarges livelihood opportunities and empowers the poor to take charge of their lives. such empowerment aids social growth and sustainable growth of the economy. apart from these benefits, financial inclusion imparts formal identity, provides access to the payments system and to savings safety net like deposit insurance. today, we need to understand that financial inclusion is critical for achieving inclusive growth in the country. to achieve that, we have to expand our scope of financial inclusion initiatives to reach out to people at the grass - root level. we may consider achieving that in three ways : • through state - driven intervention by way of statutory enactments ( for instance, the us example of the community reinvestment act ; and in france making it a statutory right to have a bank account ). • through voluntary effort by the banking community by evolving various strategies to bring within the ambit of the banking sector the large strata of society, and more importantly ; • creating a demand by the people themselves to pull the banks, financial institutions and other service providers towards them to offer banking and financial services at a competitive and affordable rate. this will go a long way in not only financially including and empowering the