benjamin e diokno : sustainability in investing speech by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the year - end market forum for maybank philippines'25th anniversary launch, 23 november 2021. * * * to finance secretary carlos p. dominguez national economic and development authority undersecretary rosemarie edillon ; ms. puan fauziah hisam, chairperson of maybank philippines incorporated ; ms. abigail del rosario, president and ceo of maybank philippines incorporated ; chua hak bin of maybank kim eng singapore ; guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. i am honored to be here at the year - end market forum for maybank philippines ’ 25th anniversary launch. since maybank opened its doors in the country in november 1997, the bank ’ s network has grown to over 60 branches nationwide. through your corporate social responsibility initiatives and various community and sustainability programs, you were able to demonstrate maybank ’ s brand of humanizing financial services. bsp commends maybank ’ s sustainability initiatives. we recognize the maybank group ’ s long - term commitments launched in july 2021, including the mobilization of 50 billion malaysian ringgit in sustainable finance by 2025, carbon neutral position by 2030, and net - zero position by 2050. we also commend the bank ’ s governance reforms reflecting its desire to integrate sustainability principles in its corporate structure. as banks take on the “ green and sustainable ” path, bsp provides the enabling regulatory environment to drive sustainable finance in the country. bsp is also leading by example. we endeavor to embed sustainability principles in everything we do as an institution, as guided by bsp ’ s sustainable central banking program. this program underscores the essential roles of the bsp as an enabler, mobilizer, and doer. as an enabler, bsp provides policies and structures that will support and facilitate sustainable finance. in this respect, we have issued the sustainable finance and environmental and social risk management frameworks. released in april 2020, the sustainable finance framework highlights the overarching principles of integrating sustainability and esg considerations in banks ’ corporate and risk governance frameworks, business strategies and operations. this framework also underscores the responsibilities of the board of directors in institutionalizing sustainability principles within the organization. supplementary to this is the environmental and social risk management framework. this framework gives

register a surplus. our international reserves as of end 2016 stood at us $ 81 billion, adequate to cover over 9 months ’ of imports of goods and payment of services, as well as to cushion us from unexpected external shocks. the philippine banking industry played a significant role in helping sustain the pace of growth of our economy. bank lending continued to expand by double - digit rates and went mostly to productive sectors. as of november 2016, consolidated bank loans reached p7. 4 trillion, almost 19 % ( 18. 5 % ) higher than the year - ago level. indeed, the banking sector kept pace with the growth of our economy. total assets of the banking industry reached p13. 2 trillion, over 12 % ( 12. 4 % ) growth from the november 2015 level, while deposits increased by more than 13 % ( 13. 5 % ) to p10. 1 trillion, an all - time high. significantly, asset quality improved further with non - performing loans at 2. 0 % while capitalization 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches remained comfortably above the minimum required under national and international standards. and the banks continued to report profits. in other words, ladies and gentlemen, the philippine banking sector not only survived 2016, it continued to thrive. and more than these, our stress tests indicated that our banks can withstand extreme shocks in both credit and market risks. third party analysts also have positive reviews concerning our banking industry. for instance, the philippines is the only banking industry within asia pacific that was given positive outlook by fitch ratings in 2016. meanwhile, moody ’ s recognized our banking industry as the only one within asean that has a stable outlook on all rating factors — operating environment, asset quality and capital, profitability, funding and liquidity. indeed, our banking sector is sound, stable, and continues to be a source of strength for our economy. the philippine economy has recorded 71 quarters of uninterrupted growth. our banks helped nurture this virtuous cycle for our economy. let us therefore congratulate the leaders of our banking industry for making this happen. let us also thank other institutions that support our banking system. of course you and i know that it was not easy getting here. together, the bangko sentral ng pilipinas and the banking sector worked together to continue to strengthen our banking system, raise risk management standards, and align governance standards with international best practices. the process of collaboration has been challenging but our performance does speak for itself.