##p for 12 years - 11 years as a member of the mb and one year as head of our institution. and while my one - year stint as governor of the bsp was full of challenges, ultimately, it was successful and memorable because we worked together for our economy and our people. fellow bspers, president ferdinand r. marcos, jr. has chosen governor eli m. remolona to head our central bank for the next six years. we are very, very fortunate to have him here. finally, although they are not with us now - this is the secret of my happy marriage ; my wife is often out of the country - i thank my family, especially my wife pinky and our children, although they are too old to be called " children. " i am blessed to have this loving family that has kept me inspired, grounded, and strong, no matter what i do or fail to do. and for that, i will always be grateful. 4 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches muli, maraming, maraming salamat sa inyong lahat! mabuhay ang bsp! mabuhay ang ating mahal na bansang pilipinas! 5 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches

in particular in securities firms would be an important aspect. fourth, the current initiative has elements of external assessment and incentive for internal assessment of degree of compliance of a country with the key standards and codes. thus, the imf and the world bank have developed an organisational framework for assessing member countries ’ observance of standards and codes. the imf assesses the implementation of standards as part of its article - iv consultations and the financial sector stability assessment ( fssa ) discussion processes in several countries and the assessments are documented in the reports on observance of standards and codes ( rosc ). the imf is preparing roscs on data dissemination and fiscal transparency, which are considered to be areas important to its mandate of overseeing international monetary and financial stability. the world bank is producing roscs on auditing, corporate governance, and insolvency and credit rights systems. in preparing the roscs, the assessments have generally been sensitive to different stages of economic development, administrative capacities and heterogeneous cultural, legal and institutional conditions of fund members. participation in rosc, however, continues to be voluntary in nature. internal assessments are also encouraged by international institutions and standard setting bodies. fifth, the entire exercise relating to the international standards and codes is being undertaken on the premise that their implementation helps to promote sound financial systems domestically enabling their smooth integration to global markets contributing thereby to financial stability internationally. they are meant to play an important role in strengthening financial regulation and supervision, enhancing transparency, facilitating institutional development and reducing vulnerabilities. standards are also expected to facilitate informed decision making in lending and investment and improve market integrity and, thereby, minimize the risks of financial distress and contagion. no doubt, standards are not ends in themselves but a means for promoting sound financial fundamentals and sustained economic growth. assessment of international initiative it may be useful to assess the response to these international initiatives in terms of the validity of the approach, adequacy of coverage of issues, symmetry of treatment between participants, linkage between international standards and codes and financial stability and issues of coverage of standards in imf surveillance. first, the latest trade and development report ( unctad, tdr, 2001 ) questions the validity of the overall approach to the reform of the international financial architecture. it observes that the recent efforts have focussed on measures mainly designed to discipline debtor countries. while it is conceded that all the reforms that are being prescribed have their merits, there