see greater empowerment of both the public and private sectors. greater efficiencies of electronic payment channels will also bring about an accelerated velocity of payments, increasing economic activities. we see a rise in public confidence in making electronic payments — this can, and will result in positive culture change! as more and more consumers gain confidence in making electronic payments, we look forward to the market expanding with more innovations. participating financial institutions are granted greater opportunities to diversify and widen the products and services they offer. innovation in financial services delivery will thrive. with a more efficient retail payments infrastructure, various services will emerge as the needs of financial consumers evolve and become more sophisticated. we anticipate the emergence of a new competitive space where service innovation is encouraged. new business models, technologies, industry wide collaborations and partnerships will be developed. with the implementation of nrps and the launch of new achs such as 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches instapay, financial institutions will be challenged to develop innovative business models customized to their target markets ’ needs, to ensure client loyalty, and to better compete for market share. our efforts in implementing the nrps are rapidly providing individuals, businesses and government, additional options on how to complete payments, collections or disbursements, depending on their specific needs and the characteristics of the fund transfers or payments. right now as we launch instapay, we have seven ( 7 ) pioneer bsp - supervised financial institutions capable of sending and receiving payments. in addition, another thirteen ( 13 ) are able to receive payments. by the middle of this year — in a few months — we expect more financial institutions to participate in instapay. in parallel, the bsp is engaging the private sector and the government to encourage their adoption of instapay and pesonet to meet their payment system requirements. we now have critical mass. it is only a matter of time before we attain widespread usage. ladies and gentlemen, the digital transformation of financial services is happening now! the country ’ s financial services industry needs to evolve to remain competitive and relevant. the steps we have taken to implement the nrps — the launch of pesonet and now, instapay, would not have been possible without constant and close dialogue and collaboration with you, our partners in the industry and with the philippine payments management inc. ( ppmi ), an industryled self - governing body and an important ally in pursuing nrps goals. our collaboration and cooperation is

, in which every president and every governor has the opportunity to speak without interruption. the first of these is referred to as the economics go - round. it is kicked off by a presentation on current economic conditions by federal reserve staff economists. then, the presidents and governors describe their individual views on current economic conditions and their respective outlooks for future economic conditions. the presidents typically start by providing information about their district ’ s local economic performance. we get that information from our research staffs, but also from our interactions with business and community leaders in industries and towns from across our districts. the chairman speaks at the end of the first go - round. he briefly but thoroughly summarizes the preceding 16 perspectives. i can assure you that this is no easy task – and the chairman ’ s balanced and thoughtful treatment of our remarks is one of the many reasons that he commands such respect among his colleagues. he then provides his own views on the economy. bis central bankers ’ speeches the committee next turns to the second go - round, which focuses on policy. again, the staff begins, with a presentation of policy options. after that, each of the 17 meeting participants has a chance to speak on what each views as the appropriate policy choice. this set of remarks is followed with a summary by the chairman, in which he lays out what he sees as the committee ’ s consensus view for future policy. the voting members of the fomc then cast their votes on this policy statement and thereby set monetary policy for the next six to seven weeks. i hope that this description of an fomc meeting conveys two things. first, the meeting participants view monetary policy as a largely technocratic exercise that is fundamentally apolitical. as i mentioned earlier, our policy discussions are largely based on informationgathering and model analyses by meeting participants and their staffs. i would say that the tone of the discussion is pretty much in accord with its rather technical substance. there is disagreement, of course. how could there not be in such challenging and unusual economic times? but, as a relative newcomer, i ’ ve been impressed with how the dialogue within the meeting room is always fundamentally grounded in a deep respect for the job at hand and for each other. second, my description of an fomc meeting highlights how the structure of the fomc mirrors the federalist structure of our government. representatives from different regions of the country – the various presidents – have input into fomc deliberations. and