to the bsp. we have systems in place for the electronic transmission of reports to us not only by the big commercial banks but the thrift and rural banks as well. in order to better appreciate the reports and data gathered from the banks and utilize these to supervise them in a more proactive way, the bsp embarked on a data warehousing project. to fully automate the project, the bsp is procuring an integrated financial reporting portal system that will allow bsp - supervised banks to send / upload reports to bsp and retrieve / download processed reports from bsp using mutually acceptable secured channels of communication. reaching out to the rural areas an area that your association may be of help to us in this regard is encouraging through your education campaigns and drives the smaller thrift and rural banks to be more e - savvy. there are over 700 rural banks scattered all over the country but only about half have email facilities and about the same number have in - house developed systems. you may want to consider e - enabling the regional areas as there is already a heavy concentration of applications in the mega - metro manila area and other major cities. for the bsp ’ s part we developed the “ integrated regional information system ” ( iris ) which allows the branches of banks in the countryside to conduct electronic transactions with bsp such as cash deposit, withdrawal, fx purchase, peso exchange, and rediscounting of loans and payments. iris has been implemented in three bsp regional offices and 5 regional units, and is expected to be fully deployed in the remaining bsp branches by the 3rd quarter of 2006. it risk management with the increasing applications of technology to banking services comes increased exposure of banks to technology - related risks, including operational, reputational, and strategic risks. to help mitigate these, the bsp recently put out guidelines for technology risk management. the bsp established these guidelines to ensure that the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and effectively measure, monitor and control these risks are in place. anti - money laundering efforts in addition to risk management, you may also partner with financial institutions in the anti - money laundering efforts of the government. under the anti money laundering act, as amended ( amla ), covered institutions, i. e., financial institutions that are supervised by the bsp, the sec and the insurance commission, are required to electronically report to the amlc all “ covered and suspicious transactions ”. while the amlc has established its

amando m tetangco jr : outlook on the country's economic condition and the role of information technology to uplift economic growth speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines, at the induction of officers of the philippines electronics and telecommunications federation, inc. ( petef ) and the information technology association of the philippines ( itap ), makati, 13 march 2006. * * * good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i am honored and pleased to be a part of tonight ’ s event - the joint membership meeting and induction of the officers of the philippine electronics and telecommunications federation, inc. ( petef ) and the information technology association of the philippines ( itap ). congratulations to all of you. special thanks should go to miss cynthia mammon, itap ’ s indefatiguable director and chair for events, whose persistence in finding a suitable schedule for us has caused my being here tonight possible. your two organizations, under the leadership of your presidents, mr. renato garcia for petef and ms. dittas formosa for itap, together, play a pivotal role in the fulfillment of the government ’ s thrust to harness the benefits of the phenomenal improvements in information and communications technology or ict. information has always played a vital role in our history. society has used information to gain a more accurate picture of any situation it is in, make better decisions for the future, and improve the quality of life in general. but never before has information been more accessible than it is now. to illustrate, let me quote bill clinton, the 42nd president of the united states speaking at the announcement of their next generation initiative in 1996. mr. clinton said, “ when i took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the world wide web … now even my cat has its own page! ”. that, was only a little over 10 years ago. since then computers have progressively become smaller, more powerful, and more affordable. we are now linked by cell phones, fiber optic cables, the internet, and and satellites. one can access information about almost anything ( even about bill clinton ’ s cat ) with just the flick of a button. increased accessibility of information as we are now experiencing, however, is not the end. information and the manner in which it is disseminated must be employed for useful, productive purposes and attuned to economic development. objective for tonight