our people. this is particularly true for microfinance, our flagship program for poverty alleviation which we have been nurturing since 2000. thirteen years hence, we have issued over 40 policies and regulations to guide the operations of banks that have made the business decision to engage in microfinance. so far, so good. for five consecutive years – from 2009 to 2013 – the economist intelligence unit has consistently ranked the philippine regulatory environment for microfinance as one of the best in the world. thus, delegations from other countries have been visiting our central bank to learn about microfinance development. and as a pioneer in developing prudential regulation of microfinance, the bangko sentral is part of the working group responsible for drafting the guidance paper on “ microfinance activities and core principles for effective banking supervision ” issued by the basel committee on banking supervision. but more than these, we take pride in the actual results that we see on the ground. as of end - june 2013, for instance, there were 186 banks with microfinance operations, from just a bis central bankers ’ speeches handful in 2000. these banks now serve over a million clients with consolidated outstanding loans of over 8 billion pesos. even better, the combined savings of the banks ’ microfinance clients have reached 8. 9 billion pesos, an amount surpassing their total loans. this tells us that these microfinance clients have attained a level of financial independence from gaining access to microcredit. i can personally attest how successful filipino microentrepreneurs are able to increase household income, send children to school, improve their health and housing condition, generally lead a better life and serve as catalyst for community development – all because they were able to access a microfinance loan. indeed, microcredit empowers the poor to start or expand their microenterprise. at the same time, our banks find that their bottom line is getting better from microfinance. today, an increasing number of microfinance banks offer a wider range of products including housing microfinance, micro - agri loans and the distribution of microinsurance. microfinance therefore is a win - win program. in the philippines, this did not happen overnight. the policymaking process evolved from dialogues with our regulated entities, as well as consultations with other stakeholders in the microfinance industry. we institutionalized such meetings with bank associations... to discuss emerging regulatory and market issues

##aid, re - priced, and refinanced at higher rates. while financial market interventions are highlighted in this report, the continuing value of sustaining our economic momentum is also emphasized. in the 2017 fsr, there are discussions on the asean integration and on the advent of financial technology applications. the fscc sees a strong upside in these initiatives. discussion of these topics contextualizes our shared goal to accrue benefits derived from them while at the same time, remaining vigilant and prepared to intervene should systemic risks develop. finally, the fsr also explores data gaps and other areas of policy interest. better data is essential as empirical basis for our actions is required. however, data gathering and analysis are recurring challenges in the field of financial stability. thus, a strong emphasis is placed on this work to support and address other policy issues along the way. our technical team put considerable effort in completing the 2017 fsr. we expect that future issues will be released in the first trimester of every year. we also expect more engagement 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches from the public, market players and the media, not just to highlight future content but to raise appreciation for financial stability issues through a concerted communication plan. we have much to look forward to. thank you again for joining us today and good afternoon. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches