nestor a espenilla, jr : asean + 3 - emergence, sustainability and success speech by mr nestor a espenilla, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the amro - bsp joint seminar on asia's emergence in the new world order : growth, integration and resilience, manila, 3 may 2018. * * * fellow central bank governors, asean + 3 macroeconomic research office ( amro ) headed by dr. junhong chang, distinguished panelists, ladies and gentlemen, magandang umaga... a pleasant morning to all. on behalf of the monetary board and the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, i am pleased to welcome you to manila and to this joint seminar. we proudly collaborate with amro and co - host this event. it is an excellent opportunity for open discourse and the exchange of vital insights in economic policymaking and on developments in central banking in the region. this joint seminar hopes to provide asean + 3 economies with broader insights in dealing with contemporary challenges. it also aims to elicit stronger consensus in fostering deeper regional integration as a critical strategy to reduce external vulnerabilities and sustain our standing as an economic powerhouse in the new world order. asia ’ s economic emergence the seminar ’ s theme, “ asia ’ s emergence in the new world order : growth, integration and resilience ” invokes some feelings of nostalgia. like most of you here, we stand not as passive witnesses, but as active participants in southeast asia ’ s emergence and transition from being a developing - economic region into a dynamic economic powerhouse. at the core of asean + 3 ’ s successful growth story is globalization, which paved the way for greater trade openness and deeper economic integration in the region. i believe that member states have positively leveraged on regional integration to retain their collective growth momentum. integration has also provided the additional impetus for individual country growth. asean + 3 has become a major global economic player. in 2016, the region accounted for more than a quarter of the world ’ s gross domestic product ( gdp ). with its combined output, the asean + 3 region was considered as the richest economy in 2016. asean + 3 ’ s unrelenting expansion in recent decades can be attributed to adherence to sound macroeconomic management. there has been a credible and collective commitment to longrun development. the philippine economy in asean the narrative of the

plans to launch private digital currencies and other pioneering technologies. we recognize that digital finance delivered through mobile technology alone cannot reach everyone. that is why we issued regulations enabling cash agents to provide improved “ last mile ” delivery of financial services to the unbanked and under - banked. the cash agents themselves can be technology - enabled by fintech solutions. in the meantime, the bsp is likewise piloting regtech solutions to strengthen its risk - based regulatory and supervisory activities. our two pilots have to do with using chat bots to effectively handle consumer complaints and application programming interface ( apis ) to make supervisory reporting as painless as possible for banks while capturing more information for the bsp. evolution in the payments and settlements system the bsp recognizes the fundamental need to create a secure, reliable and efficient digital financial ecosystem where all these innovations can come together to achieve the greatest synergy. in 2015, we launched the national retail payments system ( nrps ). it provides a policy and regulatory framework for establishing a safe, efficient, affordable, interoperable, and reliable retail payment system. the payment ecosystem envisioned to arise from this planned platform for financial innovations encourages industry players, – from big banks to small banks to non - bank electronic money issuers – to utilize fintech solutions and provide services within an organized, commercially - viable, and efficient retail payments system. since the launch of the nrps, we have already achieved critical milestones. these include establishing two priority automated clearing houses ( ach ) by transitioning the batch interbank fund transfer service of the philippine clearinghouse corporation ( pchc ) to peso net, and the launch of instapay, a new ach which supports 24 / 7 low - value electronic push payments among participating member financial institutions. we are now exploring further enhancements to the large value payment system even as the private sector contemplates other achs for other useful retail payment schemes. our current efforts also include development of an inter - operable national qr code standard to accelerate the digitalization of merchants to close the loop on the digital payment system. on august 6, 2018, the philippine id system ( philsys ) act was signed into law by the president. republic act no. 11055 establishes a biometric - based, foundational, national identification system that will provide every filipino and foreign residents with a trusted and verifiable digital identity. this milestone can exponentially push forward our digitalization and financial inclusion