, consumers, and government. moreover, to allow us to regulate more effectively, we will also coordinate and cooperate with other regulators here and abroad. this is because fintech market players include non - financial firms that operate across borders. we are specifically exploring a possible information sharing and referral system specifically focused on fintechs. the bsp is also piloting regtech solutions to strengthen our own risk - based regulatory and supervisory activities. the bsp partnered with regtech for regulators accelerator ( r2a ), a pioneering project that provides technical assistance for financial sector regulators to develop and test the next generation of digital supervision tools and techniques. ladies and gentlemen, we, in the bangko sentral, encourage you, distinguished members of ecop, not only to adjust to financial technnology, but to leverage on its opportunities. our goal is not just to survive but to thrive. the democratization of technology enables efficiencies and scale in financial service delivery. mobile devices are cheaper and now within many ’ s reach. social media is pervasive. rather than a hindrance, digital technology is fast becoming a strategy enabler. moreover, with rapid digital innovation, new business models and market players will continue to emerge, changing the nature of competition. digital innovations may also be applied to organizational strategy to improve culture and human resource skills. the fourth industrial revolution has the potential to empower individuals and communities and bring about new opportunities for economic and social development. while leveraging on technology will involve financial and investment commitment, cost - effective approaches such as outsourcing and cloud - based services may be explored. to drive down the cost of it requirements, strategic industry partnerships, and market utility arrangements can also be considered. we in the bangko sentral assure that we shall remain committed to fostering an enabling macroeconomic environment, so that you, our stakeholders – industry players can make the first and necessary steps in our shared digital transformation journey so we will not only survive but thrive and enjoy sustained economic growth over the medium to long term. thank you and mabuhay ang pilipinas! 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

recognize the importance of overseas employment in helping ease the pressure of unemployment and in boosting the national economy by helping increase the foreign exchange reserves. there are of course second - order effects of higher foreign exchange inflows, including the impact on the domestic currency and external competitiveness. but to me, it is fundamental to first address the current challenges and measurement issues that have very important analytical and policy bearings. this conference will hopefully help pave the way to clarify such issues. first, let us look at the statistics on the number of ofws. our theme for today, “ ofws : bagong bayani, ilan ba talaga kayo? ”, suggests that we are not yet certain exactly how many are our ofws, and more generally, how many filipinos are overseas. accuracy in this aspect may really be a challenge because what we want to monitor are people who are always on the move. at present, there are various agencies producing ofw - related statistics. the philippine overseas employment administration ( poea ), the overseas workers welfare administration ( owwa ) and the commission on filipinos overseas ( cfo ), on the one hand, maintain statistics based mostly on administrative records as an offshoot of their functions. on the other hand, the bureau of labor and employment statistics and the national statistics office, have data based on labor force surveys and census of population and housing. we need to understand how these data from various agencies are interrelated. the first key question is : is there a uniform definition of what an ofw is?. for instance, in the census of population of housing, overseas workers are defined as those who had been away for not more than five years from date of last departure. do the other agencies producing ofw statistics adopt the same definition?. is it possible to integrate and reconcile these sets of data from various sources to come up with one, uniform, comparable set of data on ofws and overseas filipinos?. the next question is : how are the definitions linked or reconciled with definitions in other macroeconomic statistical frameworks such as the 1993 system of national accounts ( 1993 sna ) and the 5th edition of the balance of payments manual ( bpm5 ), which adopt a one - year residency criterion for determining who are the residents of a particular economy?. what are the implications of adopting different sets of definition in our economic statistics and in economic analysis?. while there are efforts in the inter - agency technical working group (