miguel fernandez ordonez : procyclicality in the banking activity speech by mr miguel fernandez ordonez, governor of the bank of spain, at the conference on procyclicality and the role of financial regulation, organised by the bank of spain and the financial stability institute, madrid, 4 may 2009. * * * good morning ladies and gentlemen. first of all i would like to welcome you to the bank of spain. also, let me thank you all for your presence here today to discuss on one of the most difficult and relevant topics affecting financial regulation : procyclicality in banking activity. let me also thank the bis financial stability institute, and in particular its chairman, mr. josef tosovsky, for all the support and good advice received during these last few weeks during the preparation of this event that we have co - organized. we are very pleased to have as speakers in this conference a large group of excellent professionals who are directly involved in financial supervision and regulation. a high level meeting like this one is a major opportunity to start building up a common and efficient framework in order to face the procyclicality issue. cyclicality can be considered an inherent part of economic activity. banking activity is no exception ; it is also affected by the upswings and downturns of the real sector cycles. not only history proves this, but current events do also. any doubt about this has been violently resolved after the summer of 2007. but even if we accept that little can be done to avoid economic cycles, this should not be an excuse for us, central bankers and supervisors. our responsibility is to develop macro - prudential approaches and the appropriate regulatory measures to help banks reduce the impact of future economic cycles and diminish their procyclical behaviour. this should be achieved for the sake of financial stability with the minimum economic and social costs, which is the main objective of supervisory authorities in fact, banking behaviour can be not only cyclical but procyclical, that is, it can exacerbate the cyclical behaviour of the real economy. as it has been said many times, there is nothing more procyclical than a badly managed bank. in good times it incurs in more risks than it reasonably should through, for example, excessive lending with poor standards. in bad times it changes its lending policies reducing drastically the loans to the economy and exacerbating the downturn. there are several causes that explain this

amando m tetangco, jr : financial capability as a 21st century life skill speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( the central bank of the philippines ), at the citi - ft financial education summit, makati city, 5 december 2012. * * * mr. michael zink, head of asean and singapore citi country officer ; mr. sanjiv vohra, citi country officer for the philippines ; secretary imelda nicolas, chairperson, commission on filipino overseas ; ms. brandee mchale, chief operating officer, citi foundation ; mr. david pilling, financial times asia editor ; ms. kathy hurley, executive vice president, education alliances, pearson foundation ; distinguished resource persons ; experts and practitioners in financial education ; friends who have traveled from other countries ; my colleagues in the bsp ; ladies and gentlemen, good morning everyone! finally, this annual financial education summit is in the philippines. now on its 9th year, it continues to enjoy such high level of interest and support for its relevance to the times. congratulate and thank citi and ft and the other sponsors and organizers of this gathering. for starters, its forum theme “ financial capability as a 21st century life skill ” is an outright declaration that financial capability is a must - have - skill. i agree with this statement. indeed, the ability to make sound financial choices and decisions is essential to ensure one ’ s financial well - being. and yet, most people are sorely lacking in this necessary skill. the summit ’ s keynote session pushes the envelope further : it raises the social, economic and moral imperatives of bridging the financial capability gap. discussions are also bound to be thought - provoking on the topic “ the ultimate financial education challenges – impact, scale and sustainability. ” ladies and gentlemen. the organizers of this summit have brought together world - class finance education experts and advocates to tackle these important issues. the bangko sentral ng pilipinas is therefore pleased that it is a host partner in this financial education summit. for your information, the bsp was also co - host in the last two days of the asia and the pacific regional meeting on child and youth finance organized by the child and youth finance, international. and three months ago, the bsp co - hosted with the oecd in cebu the asian seminar on financial literacy and inclusion. it must be obvious, financial education