rafael buenaventura : raising the bar on consumer banking service speech by mr rafael buenaventura, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( central bank of the philippines ), at the bank marketing association of the philippines ’ ( bmap ) 30th anniversary of upgrading bank - marketing practice, makati city, 26 august 2004. * * * introduction distinguished officers and members of the bank marketing association of the philippines ( bmap ), follow bankers, ladies and gentlemen : good evening. i am deeply honored to take part in this celebration, marking bmap ’ s 30th year of upgrading bankmarketing practice in the country. this year ’ s theme of “ customer service in the marketing mix of financial products ” rightly emphasizes the importance of banks ’ clients in influencing an institution ’ s success. consumer banking over the last couple of years, the philippine banking system has experienced strong growth in consumer banking services. credit card receivables for example, grew by an average 25. 2 percent annually from 2000 to 2003. this has allowed more ordinary people without access to credit to now have access and on clean basis. however, this growth has also come with a price in the form of increased volume of bad accounts. many of the problems were traceable to the fact that some new cardholders did not really understand the obligations and responsibilities that came with them. as a result, past due credit card accounts rose an average 40. 4 percent, a pace much faster than the new ones granted. the number of credit card - related complaints also rose dramatically. it is in this regard that we should work hand in hand in channeling more efforts towards customer education and protection. for its part, the bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp ) issued various regulations geared towards protecting both the industry and the public. for instance, in 2002 we issued circular no. 349 which significantly tightened rules on credit card and other lending operations by requiring banks and their subsidiary credit card companies to ascertain that cardholders are capable of fulfilling their commitments and by setting credit limits based on their net take home pay. moreover, the bsp took a more proactive stand by creating the consumer education committee in january of this year to help improve basic financial literacy. i commend bmap together with the credit card association of the philippines ( ccap ), the bankers association of the philippines ( bap ), the chamber of thrift banks ( ctb ) and the

smp programme in august 2011, the outcome of the meeting of the euro area heads of state or government on 9 december, which led to the adoption of the “ fiscal compact ”, and finally to the ecb decisions to reduce key interest rates and organize two 3 year long term refinancing operations. finally, progress has been accomplished to reinforce the economic governance framework of emu – both as regards crisis prevention and crisis resolution. the eu rules guiding the design and implementation of national fiscal policies have been strengthened as well as in the legal frameworks of member states. a new macroeconomic surveillance framework has been created. the new provisions included in the elements for eu fiscal governance framework are important steps in the right direction. however, the devil lies in the details of the implementation. most notably, the 2012 european semester should be used to enforce rigorously the reinforced fiscal and macroeconomic surveillance mechanism. the ecb will play a significant role in the crisis management framework. together with the commission and the imf, ecb staff will undertake a rigorous debt sustainability analysis of a member state requesting financial stability support in the context of the european stability mechanism ( esm ). the ecb will also be involved in the programme design and monitoring. efsf and esm interventions in the secondary bond market will be performed on the basis of an ecb analysis recognising the existence of exceptional financial market circumstances and risks to financial stability. the ecb welcomes the eurogroup ’ s recent decision to increase the total size of the euro area firewall to around 800 billion. however, let me be clear on one point : no firewall will be high enough to be a substitute for the required fiscal and structural adjustments in euro area member states. bis central bankers ’ speeches financial sector issues as regards the on - going financial regulatory reform, the eu has taken important steps in 2011. i would like to highlight three areas. let me start off with banking regulation. with the introduction of the crd iv / crr the european union will be among the first to implement the basel iii framework, a cornerstone development for strengthening financial stability. as the crd iv is advancing towards finalisation, i would mention that the ecb strongly supports the establishment of a single european rulebook for financial institutions – mitigating regulatory arbitrage and competitive distortions – which at the same time allows for flexibility at national level by member states to apply more stringent prudential requirements where systemic risks arise. to this