. with the pandemic, financial inclusion has been recognized further as an urgent national development agenda, rightly necessitating a whole - of - nation approach. the philippine statistics authority has been ramping up its implementation of the philippine national id system or philsys which will be a gamechanger for financial inclusion addressing, long - standing barriers to account ownership in the informal and low - income sector. meanwhile, on march 10 this year, president rodrigo roa duterte signed the executive order no. 127 as a policy reform to expand the satellite broadband market to speedily connect 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches underserved rural communities. this will enable rural communities to join the digital economy and partake of its benefits. sa pamamagitan ng philsys at pagpapalaganap ng mobile at internet access sa ating bansa, masmarami pang pilipino ang mahihikayat na gumamit ng digital financial services. kasama rito ang ating mga kababayan na pwd. we laud the national council on disability affairs and other stakeholders for upholding and protecting the rights of the pwd sector. rest assured that the bangko sentral ng pilipinas is committed to continuously engage the sector so we can better respond to your needs. naririnig po namin kayo. in july 2020, we introduced enhanced tactile marks in our banknotes to aid the elderly and visually impaired in identifying denominations easier. the bsp is also now exploring the addition of braille functionality to our banknotes, which aims to benefit as many as 2. 5 million visually impaired filipinos. we recognize that many members of the pw d are highly vulnerable to and experienced unfair practices. we are reminding banks and other bsp - supervised financial institutions to enforce non - discrimination policies and promote access to welfare - enhancing financial services of our pwd sector. we hope this webinar will be informative and serve as a platform for deeper engagement to promote the financial welfare and empowerment of our country ’ s pwd sector. sama - sama nating isulong ang kaunlaran ng pilipinong may kapansanan sa gitna at lampas ng pandemya. maraming salamat po. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

amando m tetangco, jr : building a stronger economy through microfinance speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the conference on microfinance : powering innovations in microfinance, asian development bank, manila, 24 july 2008. * * * microfinance council of the philippines president rolando victoria, adb vice president lawrence greenwood, adb ed marita magpili jimenez, mr. barry hitchcock, other officers of adb, fellow advocates and workers in microfinance, distinguished participants, representatives from the banking community, special guests, good morning. this two - day conference organized around the theme “ powering innovations in microfinance ” is truly a special event. ten years ago, one would not associate the words power and innovations with microfinance in the philippines. while some of today ’ s leading microfinance ngos were already around at that time, microenterprises did not have access to formal financial services and had to resort to informal lenders with very high cost of funds. formal financial institutions were cautious of this market due to high credit risk and transaction costs. what a difference a decade makes! today, microfinance is no longer a mere buzzword but part of the financial mainstream, with 229 banks actively engaged in the sector. as of december 2007, these banks had an outstanding loan portfolio of p6 billion, extended to nearly 800, 000 clients or an average of 7, 500 pesos per borrower. significantly, our microborrowers have also become net savers ; as of end 2007, their combined deposits with banks have reached close to 2 billion pesos. indeed, microfinance has firmly established a track record across our country for nurturing successful microentrepreneurs who have attained financial security for themselves and their families. equally important, microentrepreneurs serve as catalyst for development in their respective communities. what triggered the mainstreaming of microfinance in our country? well, to put it briefly, it resulted from the convergence of the need to find ways to liberate millions of our entrepreneurial poor from the cycle of poverty ; innovations, of course ; and the willingness of key stakeholders to adopt new ways of doing business. i will now share the story of bangko sentral and how we responded to the challenge of mainstreaming microfinance within our financial