should acknowledge that, in this respect, in less than a year the g - 20 and the financial stability board have become the new protagonists : the first, as a sort of world economic “ steering committee ”, which availing itself of the imf ’ s analysis and advice can enhance international cooperation on all fronts and help achieve balanced and sustainable growth ; the second – enlarged and institutionalized from its predecessor, the financial stability forum – to make substantive progress in the key task of setting out financial and regulatory standards that will also involve the basel committees, as well as the fund. 3. structural reforms to sustain growth 3. 1 structural reforms in times of crisis rebalancing cannot be achieved without sound structural economic policies. the joint statement released at the g - 20 summit in pittsburgh acknowledges that a strong recovery will necessitate “ macroeconomic policies that promote adequate and balanced global demand as well as decisive progress on structural reforms that foster private domestic demand, narrow the global development gap, and strengthen long - run growth potential. ” in the aftermath of the economic crisis, pro - growth structural reforms may be held back. as the main focus of policy - making during the recession has been demand support, the issue of structural reform may well be downplayed or even set aside. in part this may reflect political reasons : insofar as reforms have short - term costs, the political appetite for them could be low. but this would be a lost opportunity. the reform action must not be halted by more urgent needs linked to the current crisis. it must continue to remove the obstacles to growth that lie in low levels of competition and several rigidities in product and labour markets. a constant monitoring of the progress in each country should provide an important stimulus for action. this is the aim of the oecd program going for growth, launched in 2005, which provides a sort of structural surveillance on oecd member countries. a possible extension outside the oecd membership could be a significant step forward. the nature of the present crisis demands a general review of financial regulation around the world. specifically, there is a need to broaden the perimeter of regulation and to adopt new rules. after the years in which markets were presumed to be self - regulating and public rules were abolished or greatly relaxed, the financial landscape will now have to be reshaped with more pervasive regulation, both domestically and internationally. this is a necessary step toward ensuring a functioning financial system and fostering the return of confidence to the

of sept 2006, for instance, the country ’ s 85 thrift banks had total deposits of roughly $ 6. 1 billion, up 19. 8 % from the year ago level. this is about 15 % of consolidated deposits of the banking sector. if our savings bank can capture more deposits, it will have more funds for lending, and have better opportunities to improve its profitability. the first challenge for our banks, therefore, is to find innovative and more cost - efficient ways to provide financial services as well as to expand their network and upgrade their infrastructure to reach an even greater number of our workers and their beneficiaries. most of our workers ’ remittances come from the united states, saudi arabia, canada, italy, the united kingdom, japan, the united arab emirates, hong kong, singapore, and taiwan. so far, so good. banks and non - bank remittance companies have been heeding our challenge to have faster, safer and more efficient remittance delivery. in fact, the philippines is credited to have launched one of the world ’ s first mobile phone - based remittance service. specifically, we now have improved platform for remittances through the adoption of advanced systems and new technologies such as internet / on - line banking, phone banking and through short messaging. furthermore, we now have enhanced and expanded financial products and services including bills payment arrangements, international money / cash cards, remittance network expansion, as well as new correspondent remittance agreements with host countries. to promote the efficient delivery of competitively - priced remittance services by banks and other remittance service providers, the bsp issued a circular requiring banks and non - bank financial institutions to post the charges for their various remittance products, including classification of costs. this disclosure requirement also provides the necessary information for the worker or his / her beneficiary to make a more informed decision in bank selection. the ofws as bank clients also benefited from the improvements in the country ’ s payments and settlement systems, such as the full interconnection of the three major automated teller machine ( atm ) networks ; and the continuing approval by the bangko sentral of alternative mechanisms for sending money, such as sms - based applications for remittances. the interconnection of the three networks facilitates greater accessibility as more atms can now serve the withdrawal needs of depositors. more importantly, it reduces the cost of transactions since it eliminated fees