rafael buenaventura : central bank of the philippines ’ commitment to microfinance keynote address by mr rafael buenaventura, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( central bank of the philippines ), at the 2nd international forum on microfinance, inafi - philippines, quezon city, 25 august 2004. * * * it is my pleasure to be invited to deliver this keynote speech in this 2nd international forum on microfinance sponsored by inafi philippines. i welcome this opportunity to share with you the progress that we have achieved thus far in promoting microfinance in the banking sector. in year 2000, the bsp took up the challenge of promoting the development of sustainable microfinance. since then we have focused on creating an enabling regulatory policy, supporting training and capacity building, drumming up support from potential practitioners, and strengthening working ties with other institutions for a broader microfinance network. through these various initiatives, the banking sector has been able to directly contribute to the growth of sustainable and viable microfinance institutions. in our own little way, we have been able to make a positive transformational impact in the fight against poverty. translated into numbers, the banking system has so far provided a total of p2. 9 billion microfinance loans to 485, 136 micro - borrowers as of end - may 2004. all in all, we have 2 microfinance - oriented thrift banks, 4 microfinance - oriented rural banks and 115 rural and cooperative rural banks with some level of microfinance operations that finance the credit requirements of the entrepreneurial poor ( e - poor ). we anticipate further expansion in microfinance activities in the banking sector judging by the applications for microfinance - oriented banks that are currently in the pipeline, and by the number of banks that have expressed their intention to set up branches for their microfinance operations. even as we strongly encourage the establishment of more microfinance - oriented banks, our focus is not merely confined to statistics. we also aim to provide the appropriate policy and regulatory environment for continued viability and sustainability of microfinance institutions. without sound financial and credit policies, microfinance can never be an effective intervention for poverty alleviation. with this goal in mind, we are building up on our current initiatives to mainstream microfinance within the bsp and the banking community. bsp microfinance agenda creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment high on the list of bsp ’ s

peter praet : speech on the occasion of the “ annual danish top executive summit 2013 ” speech by mr peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the “ annual danish top executive summit 2013 ”, copenhagen, 29 january 2013. * * * introduction it is a real pleasure for me to share some thoughts today with such a distinguished group of business leaders. 1 it may strike you as somewhat paradoxical for a central banker to address such an audience in a conference where the main theme is innovative thinking. after all, central bankers have traditionally been stereotyped as conservative and, well, rather dull. i firmly believe, though, that in a constantly changing world, decision - makers need to develop and maintain a healthy degree of scepticism around whether their current strategies and practices remain fit - for - purpose. this holds for decision - makers in business as well as in the public policy domain. and it is particularly relevant for central bankers, who have shouldered large part of the responsibility to navigate the economy through a once - in - a - generation financial and economic crisis. in the first part of my remarks today i will contour some salient features of central banks ’ response to the crisis. but i am sure that everyone here today is more interested in the future than pondering on what has been done so far. indeed, as the macroeconomic and business environment remains challenging, the calls for a rethinking of business models and strategic orientations become more forceful. this is also the case in the monetary policy - making arena, where new strategic aspects are being promoted and debated around the globe. in the second and main part of my remarks i would, therefore, like to focus on two examples of such “ innovative ” strategic thinking for monetary policy, assessing them from a euro area perspective. the first example concerns the objective of monetary policy. the second one refers to how policy is conducted to deliver the assigned objective. addressing the global financial crisis : a delicate balancing act requiring strength, control, horizon and courage prompted by the crisis, central bankers globally have thought openly and creatively. they designed and deployed a host of measures that went well beyond their traditional modus operandi. this reaction of central banks has clear parallels to the way business leaders confront challenges. to illustrate this, let me briefly outline how features of central banking practices correspond to the four themes that the organisers of this conference have laid out as relevant for addressing challenges in the corporate