observed that the majority of dfis continue to maintain the provision of medium to long - term finance and project finance as the core of their activities. at the same time, the dfis still fundamentally remain complementary, especially in supporting strategic sectors such as the smes and agriculture. as reflected by the term, " development financial institution ", dfis are not only expected to provide development finance for nation building, but also to undertake a higher degree of developmental role to nurture and develop the targeted sectors. with regard to this, the dfis have been demonstrating outstanding performance in their developmental role. for instance, the kfw mittelstandbank, a prominent dfi in fostering sme development in germany, is providing credit facilities to not only the established smes but also the new start - ups. another example is the organisation for smes and regional innovation of japan which focuses on providing advisory and consultancy services, and training to nurture and develop the smes. let's now look at the prospects and challenges for dfis, i. e., the second part of this presentation. with the growing and changing global economy, i have no doubt that dfis will remain important and relevant to meet the increasing developmental needs of their respective countries. this development, indeed, presents both opportunities and challenges to the dfis in the way forward. while the expanding economies, both in the developed and developing countries, would create greater business activities for the dfis, this also means that they have to remain innovative in their products and services by exploring new ways of doing business, to be able to respond effectively to the different financing and developmental requirements. dfis must continuously evolve and review their areas of comparative advantage in order to remain relevant, effective and strategic. to drive performance, one important aspect is to clearly identify key performance indicators for the dfis, in order to measure efficiency and effectiveness in performing their mandated roles. recognising dfis'developmental role, the performance measurement of a dfi should go beyond the standard financial measurement to encompass quantitative and qualitative non - financial indicators that evaluate the economic and social contribution of dfis, consistent with their objectives of establishment. for dfis that are involved in sme development, the key performance indicators should include the number of new start - ups financed, the extent of borrowers receiving advisory services and the number of smes that have " graduated " from the dfis

benjamin e diokno : old partnerships and renewed beginnings message by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for the trust officers association of the philippines general membership meeting, manila, 25 march 2021. * * * to the directors, officers, and members of the trust officers association of the philippines ( toap ), guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening! it is a pleasure to address the toap once again, this time, at your general membership meeting. it was in november 2020 when i joined your summit. i recall that i challenged your organization to be adaptable, to take advantage of opportunities, so your institution will reach its goals. with the accomplishments of the association, i commend the incumbent officers of toap under the leadership of atty. bobbie conception for ably steering the industry in 2020. 2020 was an extremely difficult year. but don ’ t despair. we are on the way to recovery. we can look to 2021 with guarded optimism. performance of the trust industry nevertheless, the performance of the trust industry in 2020 was impressive. while the level of assets under management ( aum ) for trust and investment management activities did not show significant growth, it is encouraging to note that the aum of unit investment trust funds ( uitfs ) rose by a hefty 22 percent year - on - year by the end of the third quarter of 2020. this development must have been made possible by the online accessibility of uitfs as the number of uitf participants also surged by around 32 percent year - on - year. uitf clients seem to prefer funds that are more liquid and whose products they are more familiar with. as we move forward, we hope that the uitf participants can progress, particularly with respect to the choice of underlying investments, and that in due time uitfs can be an effective vehicle for retail investors to actively participate in the philippine capital markets. apart from uitfs, the bsp expects growth of trust assets to continue this year. following the industry ’ s proposal, the bsp issued circular no. 1109 on february 4, 2021, which lowered to the minimum amount required to maintain an investment management account ( ima ) and to participate in commingled funds to p100 thousand. the circular also expanded the financial assets that a commingled fund can invest in. this is expected to fuel an increase in the