eli m remolona : keeping the bayanihan spirit alive speech by mr eli m remolona, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the 6th general membership monthly meeting of the consular corps of the philippines, makati city, 31 july 2024. * * * introduction your excellencies, consul generals, heads of missions, representatives from various organizations, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. magandang gabi po. what an honor it is to join all of you tonight. this event happens to coincide with the international day of friendship, which is held every 30th of july. as i recall, this was an initiative of the united nations to build bridges of friendship in the international community. so let me greet you a happy international friendship day. unity and cooperation i am afraid this will be a serious speech. we will have to earn the dinner we just had. one core filipino value that resonates with the bond of friendship in this group is the bayanihan spirit of unity and cooperation. the bayanihan tradition is deeply rooted in our culture and heritage. it was earlier associated with the collaboration of the whole community in moving someone's house. it has now taken on a modern meaning that more general collective action of a community to support one another. we, at the bangko sentral [ ng pilipinas ] ( bsp ), recognize your critical role in promoting the interest of the countries you represent, while at the same time promoting cordial relations and mutually beneficial exchanges between your countries and the philippines. we are grateful that you have chosen to go beyond these struggles by engaging in projects that directly uplift the welfare of filipino communities. these projects include environmental protection, disaster relief and rehabilitation, and assistance to the seriously ill and abandoned children. all these activities mirror the bayanihan spirit. for its part, the bsp plays a critical role in maintaining price stability, financial stability, and a safe, secure, and efficient payments and settlements system. we believe that performing these roles helps strengthen our economic relationships. consistent with the bayanihan spirit, our actions are part of the collective effort of nations to maintain global and regional economic stability while promoting international trade. digitalization and sustainability tonight, let me focus on just two of our initiatives to support our communities. these initiatives are about digitalization and sustainability. under a mandate of providing a 1 / 3 bis

share the story of a small food producer who was able to grow her home - based business with the help of a microfinance loan. her business was able to put food on their family ’ s table, send her children to school and improve the overall quality of life of their family. we met at an awards program for microentrepreneurs. what i distinctly recall is that a year after she won the award, she was given the opportunity to export her goods. sadly, she was unable to meet the order due to lack of capacity and additional financing from her microfinance institution. in short, she lost the opportunity to expand her business, to earn more for her family, to generate more employment and to add to her community ’ s income. ladies and gentlemen, this is a poignant story of a success half - realized. on one hand, we saw how access to credit made such a huge positive impact on the life of a microentrepreneur from the marginalized sector. on the other, we saw how capacity limitations and the inability to access additional financing prevented her from realizing the full potential of offshore markets for her products. multiply this story many times over and you can imagine the countless missed opportunities for improving the lives of many more filipinos. sayang. as the training arm of the banking industry, baiphil ’ s role is crucial in building the capacity of our banks to transform into opportunities, the challenges from financial inclusion and integration. toward this end, i would like to share my three - fold challenge to baiphil, and we have another acronym b. i. g. b is for build. build our banks ’ capacity so that they can compete under regional banking standards. what comes to mind are corporate governance, appropriate risk management and internal controls, commensurate capital structure, and clear business plans with track record, among others. the regulations of the bsp support this objective, particularly our recent landmark issuances and those in the pipeline, such as the credit risk management framework, the supervisory enforcement policies, and the operational risk management. they provide fundamental principles that empower banks to determine their business model, the markets they want to serve, the products they want to develop and the risks they are willing to take and manage. the i in big stands for improve. i ask baiphil to help improve our banks ’ ability to develop responsive products that are suited to the needs of the markets they want to serve. this