at the national, regional and global scale. a case in point is basel 3, the new global standard for managing banking - related risks. in this connection, the bangko sentral has made clear repeatedly that we subscribe to the underlying principles espoused by the basel 3 accord. however, we have taken steps to calibrate its implementation here to align with local conditions. at the bangko sentral, we do not instigate change for the sake of change. rather, our policy initiation is calibrated to make the industry stronger against potential waves of shocks. the same principle applies to other reform strands. the new framework for otc derivatives, financial market infrastructure, changes in corporate governance standards, consumer protection, accounting and even the recent issue on the integrity of financial benchmarks are all in the context of addressing identified weaknesses under a financial stability mandate. bis central bankers ’ speeches they represent global reforms that are meant to revise the international financial architecture and the market ’ s intrinsic landscape. at the regional level, the reforms emanate from the policy decision to pursue integration. for the banking community, this will be the asean banking integration framework or abif. the framework takes us to 2020 at which time we expect that the asean banking community would be semi - integrated. while this is six years away, the work under abif is well underway. banks can choose to retain a domestic focus or choose to become a regional player. however you position your bank, be aware that either of the two choices has critical competition policy consequences. if one is to survive and thrive, international competitiveness is the way to go. this is because so - called qualified asean banks ( qabs ) will operate within asean. in the end, the size and strength of each bank ’ s balance sheet as well as the quality of its management will become crucial factors under regional integration. ladies and gentlemen, we have covered quite a bit of ground in describing the philippine banking industry in terms of both its current standing and its prospects. i can say that while we are in a clear position of strength today, calibrated reforms will continue to be a necessity. at the end of the day, the real measure of strength and success is the ability to withstand difficulties that will arise in the future. we know that change will always be at a cost ; consider this as investment for the future. for today, your prospective strength will be difficult to quantify. nevertheless, you can count on the bang

amando m tetangco, jr : working on asean governance standards speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( the central bank of the philippines ), at the financial sector forum on asean corporate governance scorecard, manila, 24 september 2014. * * * good morning everyone and welcome to the bangko sentral ng pilipinas. on behalf of the other members of the fsf – the heads of sec, ic and pdic – i also welcome everyone to this forum on the asean corporate governance scorecard or what we call acgs. the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, the securities and exchange commission, the insurance commission and the philippine deposit insurance corporation are pleased that representatives from various sectors have joined us this morning to know more about the acgs. this tells us that you and the institutions you represent similarly value corporate governance. as you and i know, good corporate governance is key to ensuring sustainable long - term growth. in this context, acgs is important – it deserves our time and full attention. a joint initiative of the asean capital markets forum and the asian development bank, the acgs evaluates the top publicly listed companies in five categories, based on the following weights : 10 % for rights of the shareholders ; 10 % for role of stakeholders ; 15 % for equitable treatment of shareholders ; 25 % for disclosure and transparency ; and 40 % for responsibilities of the board. benchmarked against international best practice, the acgs provides a standard rigorous methodology that can generate comparable information crucial to investors, fund managers, the private sector, the regulators and governments. at present, the acgs counts six participating asean countries : indonesia, malaysia, singapore, thailand, vietnam and the philippines. this program is being done in parallel with other efforts to promote asean as a competitive growth region. while the acgs country reports and assessments for 2013 – 2014 said the performance of asean publicly listed companies in applying recommended corporate governance principles is commendable, continuing improvements are called for. we agree. and all of us should strive to do so in our respective institutions, industries and sectors. good governance has to be a culture not only within institutions but across our country. at this point, i will share a number of our initiatives at the bangko sentral. over the years, we at the bangko sentral have been working on strengthening governance standards in banks. among others, proposed directors of banks are subject to