support ease of doing business and help improve the country ’ s investment climate. the banking sector was fully liberalized earlier in 2014 to allow entry of foreign banks under republic act no. 10641. since the law ’ s enactment, the bsp has already approved the entry of 11 new foreign banks. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches fifth : the agricultural sector today ’ s fifth panel discussion will revolve around the agriculture sector. and this sector is indeed an important driver and draw for increased investments. recently, the bsp issued guidelines on agricultural value chain financing ( vcf ) to facilitate credit to the agriculture sector. this opens up credit provision to all the players in an organized value chain and promotes vcf as an effective, organized means of channeling funds to the agrifisheries sector, promoting their financial inclusion. by encouraging linkages among various players in an agri - value chain, the credit risk of participating smallholder farmers and fisher - folk can be reduced and facilitate their access to more credit. but beyond this sector are other unserved, underserved and untapped markets. to promote msme access to finance, the bsp has issued comprehensive credit risk management ( crm ) guidelines so that banks can be more flexible, extend more credit, and implement innovative credit products and lending programs. also, a wide range of microfinance services of banks now cover nearly 1. 7 million microentrepreneurs with an outstanding portfolio of p13 billion. empowering these sectors are not just opportunities to exercise social responsibility, but their inclusion creates viable business propositions. to sum up,... why the philippines? first, the philippines is among the fastest growing and most resilient economies in the region. second, coordinated efforts towards structural reforms and public sector investments in infrastructure and human capital development will make the business climate even more competitive. and third, you can rely on the bsp ’ s staunch commitment and effectiveness in delivering on its core mandates of price and financial stability conducive to economic growth. we are deeply committed to implementing ambitious financial sector reforms. let me end on this note. i wish you a very productive investment forum ahead! thank you! 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

would like to talk about is quite different from the risks i've discussed so far. the end of libor is not a risk. it's a certainty that the finance industry needs to be ready for. it has now been just over two years since andrew bailey announced that the fca ( the financial conduct authority ) would no longer use its powers to sustain libor beyond 2021. financial regulators around the world expect institutions using libor to be ready to transition to more robust benchmarks. with strong support from the rba and apra, asic recently wrote to the ceos of major australian financial institutions to seek assurance that they are taking appropriate action. the transition from libor to alternative risk - free rates ( rfrs ) is accelerating internationally. usage of rfrs in derivatives markets is increasing, and they are being adopted in some cash products. there has also been good progress on developing more robust fall - back provisions in contracts referencing libor. isda has completed consultations on the fall - back methodology for almost all of the libor currencies ( and some other ibors including bbsw ). [ 7 ] isda found strong support for using as the fall - back : the compounded rfr with an adjustment for the historical spread between the rfr and libor. once isda has finalised the fall - back provisions, regulators expect users of benchmarks to adopt them. in australia, we have taken a different path. the credit - based benchmark bbsw ( the bank bill swap rate ) has been strengthened and coexists alongside the cash rate, which is the risk - free rate for the australian dollar. this has been possible since both bbsw and the cash rate are supported by underlying markets with enough transactions to calculate robust benchmarks. we have been encouraging users of australian dollar benchmarks to be choosing the benchmark that is most appropriate for their circumstances. sometimes it makes sense to use a credit - based benchmark, such as bbsw, particularly when banks are issuing funding instruments. however, it often makes more sense to use a risk - free benchmark, such as when governments raise funding. there has been progress on this in recent months, with the south australian government financing authority issuing the first frn referencing the cash rate. nevertheless, the lesson from libor is that no benchmarks should be taken for granted. so while bbsw remains robust, it is prudent to have robust fallbacks in your contracts in case it were