performing assets. the fist law is expected to improve the banking systems ’ npl ratio by 0. 63 to 0. 71 percentage points. pending in congress is house bill no. 7749 or the government financial institutions unified initiative to distressed enterprises for economic recovery or guide bill. this seeks to expand the loan assistance, rediscounting, and other credit facilities of government financial institutions — development bank of the philippines and land bank of the philippines, to help msmes cope with the effects of covid - 19. lastly, the agri - agra bill, will strengthen rural development by providing for a holistic approach in addressing the financing needs of the broader agricultural financing ecosystem. aside from these broad - based pandemic policy responses, the bsp has also been seizing new opportunities and ramping up its digitalization efforts to support economic recovery. the pandemic has been the catalyst for the exponential rise in the use of electronic payment channels. with the precautionary health measures associated with the pandemic, digital channels for conducting financial services have become imperative. 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches fortunately, the bsp has embraced digitalization even before the pandemic. but to further strengthen its digitalization efforts, the bsp launched the digital payments transformation roadmap 2020 – 2023 last october. this roadmap is in line with the bsp ’ s goal to shift from a cash - heavy to a cash - lite economy. targeted outcomes of this roadmap include shifting at least 50 % of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and having at least 70 % of filipino adults onboarded to the financial system through the ownership and use of transaction account by 2023. the bsp believes that financial digitization will ensure the resurgence of businesses and boost economic growth as digitalization makes payments easier and quicker and helps improve working capital efficiency. digitalization also accelerates financial inclusion to those unserved and underserved by traditional bank offices. the philippine banking system remains sound and stable. the banking system consistently posted capital adequacy ratios ( car ) at about 15. 0 percent in the past 10 years, which is well above the 10. 0 percent minimum threshold set by the bsp, and 10 percent international threshold set by the bank for international settlements ( bis ). as of end - september 2020, the risk - based capital adequacy ratios of the universal and commercial banking industry stood at 17. 2 percent on consolidated basis

examples of account - based means of payment. they meet all of the functions that money shall have : they make use of the same arithmetical unit, their value is guaranteed by the riksbank ’ s monetary policy mandate and, as technological advances continues, these account - based systems offer increasingly efficient mediation of payments. account - based means of payment have since come to replace payments with banknotes and coins to an increasing extent right up to the current situation. nowadays, some account - based payments can also be made in real time, a property that only cash payments could boast once upon a time, when the payment was made after banknotes changed owners. 4 without cash, the general public loses access to central bank money if cash were to disappear completely, the general public would only have access to account - based private bank money. the banks, on the other hand, continue to have access to central bank money as they have accounts in the riksbank. so is this a problem? we return here to the central element of the monetary system mentioned earlier – confidence in the system. during normal times this is not a problem. the banks can normally offer a sufficiently high interest rate to attract investors. but in times of financial stress, which unfortunately occur with some regularity, both banks and the general public want access to the central bank ’ s money, which is free from credit risk. the deposit guarantee alleviates the problem of a lack of confidence but does not entirely resolve it. it is scarcely surprising that a central bank in the riksbank's situation needs to at least investigate whether the arguments that have historically been so important – that the central bank shall provide the general public with assets and means of payment free of credit risk – no longer have such great significance. is it the case that the general public no longer wants central bank money? or is it rather the case that it is only money made of pieces of paper ( or cotton ) that they no longer wish to hold in an increasingly digitalised world? if it is the latter, then it is the riksbank's duty to investigate the scope for issuing a digital alternative – an ekrona that the general public can hold. the questions that led to the riksbank's monopoly on issuing banknotes in 1904 arise again. but there are also other reasons for investigating a digital alternative payment in cash presuppose a chain of action that involves issuing, transporting, storage and distribution of banknotes and coins. it requires