kaya ipinagbawal namin ang foreign funds. so, this is one important role that you play. to the extent that you buy cb securities, you [ trusts ] help us sterilize more permanently. closing message in closing, the legal and regulatory frameworks and the economic environment may continue to evolve, but you can be assured that the bsp has the philippine economy, financial system, and filipinos'best interests in mind as we chart our path forward. of course, we are also extremely focused on making sure that there are new technologies in the payment systems, that more and more people go digital, and that more and more people embrace qr [ quick response ]. of course, our goal is that even the tricycle driver is able to accept qr payments. so, these are the things that we are doing. of course, we would very much want your support. finally, congratulations to the new board of trustees and board of senior managers of aci and fmap. i commend the outgoing set of fmap officers, led by mr. vincent daffon, who is passing the torch to a new set of trustees, led by ms. maria cristina gabaldon. may you lead the association further along toward realizing its vision of 6 / 7 bis - central bankers'speeches being a catalyst of change in the industry and upholding the interest of the investing public. maraming salamat, at magandang hapon sa inyong lahat. 1 corrected figure for the longest series of consecutive months of above - target inflation ( january 2008 a€ “ may 2009 ) ; based on consumer price index data with 2006 as the base year 2 corrected figures for the short - run exchange rate pass - through 7 / 7 bis - central bankers'speeches

nearly 60 percent of the program ’ s total loan amount. 2 in comparison with the banking industry as a whole, these banks provided more loans to traditionally underserved communities and population segments : community banks provided 87 percent of total ppp loans to minority - owned businesses, 81 percent to women - owned businesses, and 69 percent to veteran - owned businesses. 3 trends in community banking despite the local and national significance of community banks, their numbers, as well as the number of insured banks in general, have been declining for several years. 4 this erosion of community bank charters is not just an issue in our rural communities. in urban areas, these banks, including minority - owned banks, serve businesses and households that may also be overlooked by larger institutions. i am concerned that the contraction of community banks could lead to an unhealthy level of similarity in the banking system. as a result, this could limit the ability of households and small businesses to access credit and other types of financial products and services. the beauty of community banks is in their differences — whether in their personality or business model. each is unique in its mission, service delivery, and profile. while i am troubled by the declining community bank footprint, i am not surprised that banks are choosing to merge or to be acquired. i am well aware of the significant challenges that see the independent community bankers of america ( icba ), “ community banks made 60 percent of ppp loans to small businesses, ” news release, september 1, 2021, https : / / www. icba. org / newsroom / news - andarticles / 2021 / 09 / 01 / icba - to - congress - ppp - forgiveness - should - be - straightforward. icba, “ community banks. ” from 2011 to 2019, there has been a 30 percent decline in the number of community banks, whereas the number of larger banks has declined by more than 36 percent. see the fdic community banking study ( december 2020 ) at https : / / www. fdic. gov / resources / community - banking / report / 2020 / 2020 - cbi - study - full. pdf. smaller banks face. since joining the board, and increasingly over the past year, i have met with many state member bank ceos who share these challenges with me. these ceos have expressed frustrations with ever - increasing compliance burden, which distracts their attention from prudent revenue generating activities. as i discussed in recent remarks at the