amando m tetangco, jr : bsp and sss – moving towards a common vision speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the sss anniversary celebration, quezon city, 1 september 2009. * * * social security commission chairman thelmo cunanan, sss president and ceo sec. romulo neri, former sss president and ceo corazon de la paz - bernardo, distinguished members of the social security commission, past and present, coa chairman rey villar, other officers and staff of sss, fellow workers in government, special guests, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. it is a pleasure to be part of the 52nd anniversary celebration of the sss, the philippine institution that has 28 million members or nearly one - third of our country ’ s population! indeed, the sss is one of the most important institutions in our country : it is the institution that has been providing support and protection to millions of its members who face financial challenges from sickness, disability, death, maternity, and other contingencies for 52 years now. this tells us that sss has been faithful in fulfilling its responsibilities to its members and that, in turn, its members continue to trust sss with their hard - earned money. for this, the men and women of the sss, past and present, deserve our appreciation and a long - round of applause! let us also give a big hand to all the balikat ng bayan awardees who are the exceptional bank partners and top employers that help the sss achieve its objectives and provide good service to its members. palakpakan din po natin sila! ladies and gentlemen, the continuing stability and strength of the sss is important not only for its members and employees but also for the economy as a whole. among others, each time it extends benefits to its members, the sss, in effect, reminds them of the value of regularly setting aside part of one ’ s income for the rainy days. this is important as it is the accumulated savings of our people that enable our banks to sustain lending for economic activities that generate and keep jobs. in turn, the new additions to the labor force keep on expanding the membership base of the sss. banks are also important conduits for the collection of sss premiums as well as for the distribution of

made through pesonet more than doubled with volume surging by 264 percent year on year and value rising by 160 percent, over the same period. aside from aiding businesses in mobilizing funds during the pandemic, the pesonet was also used for social transfers made through the social security system ’ s small business wage subsidy ( sbws ) program. this shows that this facility is a viable and efficient means of distributing welfare benefits to indigent citizens. similarly, since its launch in april 2018, instapay exponentially grew, registering over 1 million percent increase in volume and over 700 thousand percent in value as of september 2020, with the volume rising to 30. 3 million from 1, 740 transactions and the value growing to php143. 2 billion from php 19. 1 billion. the performance of instapay from september 2019 to september 2020 was spectacular. it grew by 758 percent in volume, from 3. 5 million to 30. 3 million transactions, and 466 percent in value, from php25. 3 billion to php 143. 2 billion. based on the baseline survey, the banking system may grow by 3. 6 percent by end - december 2020. this expected growth, however, represents the top 20 banks across universal banks, thrift banks and rural and cooperative banks. we expect loans to the msme to soar. based on the bsp data, the philippine banking system continued to support the msmes during these difficult times. 3 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches in particular, the banking system ’ s new msme loans used for compliance with the reserve requirements have averaged php127. 5 billion as of the reserve week of 22 october 2020 from php9. 3 billion as of 30 april 2020. the loan quality remained satisfactory amid continued loan growth. the quality of the banking system ’ s loan portfolio remained satisfactory. the non - performing loan ( npl ) ratio was manageable at 3. 4 percent as of end - september 2020, slightly higher than the 2. 1 percent ratio as of end - september 2019. loan loss reserves have been generally increasing since the start of this year but inched down as of end - september 2020, resulting to a lower npl coverage ratio of 91. 7 percent. we expect the banking industry to book additional provisions as they continue to reassess the quality of the loan portfolio. the year - on - year growth of financial assets ( aside from loans ) sharply fell from 15. 2