important changes to our policy statement that upgraded our forward guidance about the future path of the federal funds rate, and that also provided unprecedented information about our policy reaction function. we indicated that, with inflation running persistently below 2 percent, our policy will aim to achieve inflation outcomes that keep inflation expectations well anchored at our 2 percent longer - run goal. we said that we expect to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until these outcomes — as well as our maximum - employment mandate — are achieved, and also that we expect it will be appropriate to maintain the current 0 to 1 / 4 percent target range for the federal funds rate until labor market conditions have reached levels consistent with the committee ’ s assessments of maximum employment, until inflation has risen to 2 percent, and until inflation is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time. we also stated that the federal reserve will, over coming months, continue to increase our holdings of treasury securities and agency mortgage - backed securities at least at the current pace to - 4sustain smooth market functioning and help foster accommodative financial conditions, thereby supporting the flow of credit to households and businesses. banking initiatives in recent months, the federal reserve has announced several initiatives to support the efforts of our nation ’ s banks to sustain the flow of credit to households and firms during these challenging times. along with the other federal banking agencies, we have encouraged banks to work constructively with borrowers who have been affected by covid - 19 — offering a customer a responsible loan modification can be a safe and sound banking practice and can help facilitate the economic recovery. 3 turning to some issues of particular importance to small banks, we have provided temporary regulatory relief on the community bank leverage ratio, on regulatory reporting deadlines, and on appraisal requirements. we have also streamlined our bank examinations for small banks. these actions are providing banks with additional time and resources to adjust their operations to prioritize the financial needs of their customers and communities, and to play the vital role of lending to small businesses through the ppp. with regard to actions taken that are relevant for larger institutions, we have adapted our stress - testing framework to better identify the potential effects of the pandemic on the capital positions of our banks. in june, we released the annual stresstest results and an additional sensitivity analysis that explored vulnerabilities of banks to the downside risks to the economy arising from the pandemic. 4 at the same time, to for loan

eli m remolona : welcome message - 2nd digital financial inclusion awards welcome message by mr eli m remolona, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for the second digital financial inclusion awards ( dfia ) a€ “ awarding ceremony, manila, 24 october 2023. * * * citi philippines ceo paul favila ; chairperson of the microfinance council of the philippines gilbert maramba ; founder of card mri aries alip ; fellow members of the national selection committee ; advocates for digital financial inclusion ; our outstanding digital microentrepreneurs and microfinance institutions, special guests, good afternoon and welcome to the bangko sentral ng pilipinas. today, we honor five microfinance institutions and 20 microentrepreneurs under the second digital financial inclusion awards. they have embraced the transformative power of digital technologies to grow their operations and serve their clients. the digital solutions they adopted ranged from e - commerce, social media marketing, and use of ewallets. i can tell you, the national selection committee had a really tough time choosing the finalists. so rich was the pool of nominees. we applaud all the nominees for investing time and resources in digitalization. the bsp values this digital financial inclusion awards. it supports and promotes both microfinance institutions and microentrepreneurs who successfully adopted digitaiization to boost efficiencies and scale up customer services. their initiatives are aligned with the bsp's digital payments transformation roadmap and our national strategy for financial inclusion. under this roadmap, our goal is to convert 50 percent of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and to onboard 70 percent of filipino adults to the formal financial system. so how are we doing? well, the share of digital payment transactions reached 42 percent in 2022 ; account ownership was 56 percent in 2021 ; and 65 percent in 2022. we are gaining ground, but there is still so much more to do. ladies and gentlemen. microenterprises and microfinance improve the lives of so many filipinos, more so when they are digitalized. today's awardees prove this. they are good role models that inspire and inform. i therefore thank our partners from citi, from mcpi and the members of our national selection committee for supporting digital financial inclusion. to our awardees, we thank