the bsp ’ s continuing thrust to give banks greater flexibility to respond to changing market opportunities and allow them to take risks so long as they demonstrate the ability to manage and price for those risks. as members of a key organization in the banking community, your work as marketing professionals as front liners is vital to the continuity of our financial reform agenda. it is important to remember this. for even as we achieved a significant breakthrough in our economy, with moody ’ s validating this with an upgrade in our outlook from stable to positive, there will always be challenges we have to deal with. the global economy for instance continues to be adversely affected by the lingering effects of the sub - prime mortgage crisis and an economic slowdown in the us, the world ’ s biggest economy. this year, therefore, we expect bmap to be more deeply involved in building on these reforms to further enhance the risk management process, corporate governance, disclosure standards, and capital adequacy. one of our continuing priorities is to broaden access of smes and the microfinance sector to credit. bsp ’ s recent reform initiatives toward this end include liberalized branching ; expansion of fcdu and trust license to include qualified rural banks ; and the re - opening of quasi - banking license. we also continue to work on a sound market infrastructure to ensure secure and timely completion of transactions, thereby minimizing systemic risk and enhancing the integrity of financial transactions. this is being implemented through the promotion of progressive policies on e - commerce and payments system innovation. you can expect that our policy thrusts will remain geared toward acceptable risk management practices that enable financial industry participants to better assess and manage risks without unduly hampering the ability to innovate. the bsp will also continue to take a proactive role in accelerating development of the domestic capital market. while we have made significant strides in speeding up the reform process, there is still a lot of work to do. the biggest challenge right now is to make the domestic capital market a truly potent alternative source of funding and outlet for investments for corporates and other entities. the synergy between the banking system and a vibrant capital market should create much more opportunities for service and product innovation. another crucial challenge that we face, and for which i earnestly request your support, is to help ensure that we improve our economy by actually promoting and extending credit! this is the way, i believe, that the problem of plenty – strong dollar inflows,

new generation of filipinos who are adept in managing their own resources and in strengthening the country ’ s financial system. let us cooperate therefore in implementing this breakthrough program. indeed, it should be another busy year for all of us. i therefore call on the officers and members of bmap to assist the bangko sentral in ensuring the successful implementation of these reforms and advocacies. we will again count on your support and commitment to these programs. together, let us forge an even stronger partnership as we continue to foster stability in the financial system and secure more sustainable and higher growth path for our economy. finally, i thank your outgoing officers – led by bobby banaag – for a job well done and congratulate the new set of bmap officers – headed by mike villareal – on the successive breakthroughs they will set during their term. mabuhay ang bmap! mabuhay ang pilipinas! maraming salamat sa inyong lahat!