amando m tetangco, jr : banking on social safety nets speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( the central bank of the philippines ), at the balikat ng bayan awarding ceremonies and the launching of the personal equity and savings option fund of the social security system, quezon city, 25 september 2014. * * * on behalf of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, i congratulate the sss for making its 57th anniversary truly meaningful for two things : first, by recognizing its partners in the challenging task of bringing social security services to its members ; and second, by introducing service enhancement to its members through the sss personal equity and savings option or what you call the peso fund. as an institution that has accumulated 31 million members over 57 years, the sss has its hands full not only in preparing its members for retirement, but also in helping members face intermittent financial challenges from maternity, sickness, disability and other contingencies. in this connection, the sss peso fund provides a viable option for members with excess earnings to contribute more to this tax - free fund to receive higher benefits in the future. with such a big customer base, the sss and its peso fund could be a game - changer in terms of promoting the habit of saving and investing regularly among filipinos. the bsp ’ s consumer expectations survey released early this month indicated that 26. 9 % of our households have savings. of these households with savings, 67 percent have bank deposit accounts ; 10 percent put their money in cooperatives, paluwagan and other credit / loan associations ; while 23 percent kept their savings at home. it is also interesting to note that 35 percent of households said they could set aside money for savings during the third quarter this year. moreover, one - third of these households said they could save 10 percent or more of their monthly gross family income. according to the respondents, they save money for the following reasons : for emergencies ; retirement ; health & hospitalization ; education ; and business capital & investment. in other words, there remains a lot of opportunities for scaling up savings mobilization. what magnitudes are we looking at? well, as of march 2014, the philippine banking system had 37. 8 million depositors who had saved 7. 7 trillion pesos in 46 million deposit accounts. on banking and pension it may not be pronounced, but there is a significant

amando m tetangco, jr : thrift banks – moving forward through responsive, responsible banking speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the annual convention of the chamber of thrift banks, makati city, 13 march 2009. * * * ambassador alfredo yao, immediate past president, mr. pascual garcia iii, incoming president of the chamber of thrift banks, distinguished officers and members of the chamber, colleagues from the bsp, members of the media, special guest, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. it is always a pleasure to keynote the chamber ’ s annual convention. this year, you have certainly chosen a very appropriate and constructive theme – “ thrift banks : moving forward through responsive, responsible banking ”. i see being responsive and responsible as two sides of the same coin – one side balances and completes the other. to illustrate, if you were only reactive to changes around you but not mindful of the impact of your actions on those around you, that could lead to discord. if, on the other hand, you are fully aware only of your own obligation, without being sensitive to changes in your surroundings, that could lead to stagnation. you have to be both – responsive and responsible – to be able to push forward. a convention ’ s theme is only as good as the actions that will spring forth from it. so i ask the question, what can the public expect from a responsible and responsive thrift banking industry? the thrift banking industry should be able to make the convention theme come to fruition, despite the distractions of the current crisis. ladies and gentlemen, you have a gem of an opportunity to build upon a stable foundation. through the difficult reforms that together we had put in place over the last few years, our banking system has remained sound, considering the scope and enormity of the current global financial crisis. in particular, • the banking industry ’ s balance sheet grew in 2008, despite stressed global conditions, while both npl and npa ratios remained relatively stable. this is critical when one recalls what it was like in the early months of the asian financial crisis when comparable ratios were rising in large discrete increments. • while profitability has and could be under further pressure, the capital of the banking system as a whole is considerably well above international norms and our own prudential standards