amando m tetangco, jr : harnessing credit for a better life for all speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the 75th anniversary of credit management association of the philippines, manila, 19 april 2007. * * * senator / governor / sec. joey lina, president marlo cruz, ladies and gentlemen of the credit management association of the philippines, special guests. good morning. on behalf of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, i congratulate the credit management association of the philippines on its diamond anniversary. there are few organizations that can claim such longevity. this is, indeed, admirable! and while your organization may be old, your members definitely are not. i believe that your longevity is due to a clear vision of what your organization can and should do. as president marlo earlier mentioned, your organization was officially incorporated as the association of credit men ( phils. ) inc. in 1932, exactly seventy - five years ago today, when our country was still under american rule, and our population was roughly about 15 million. since then, the philippines has won its independence ; your association has changed its name to the credit management association of the philippines – a recognition of the equally important role women play in credit management ; while our population has multiplied 5 ½ times to 84 million! through all these changes, cmap ’ s reason for being has remained constant : credit information exchange. it is a tribute to your founding fathers ’ vision that they identified this vital cooperative undertaking very early in our economic history. with the significant growth of our economy since then, and the associated demand to finance it, effective credit management has become today ’ s imperative to sustain our country ’ s development. for this, we need a comprehensive and unified approach to credit information. this is the reason why the bangko sentral ng pilipinas is a strong supporter of the proposed legislation that would create a centralized credit information bureau that will provide comprehensive information on credit histories. as envisioned, this centralized credit information bureau will improve the quality of financial information available to creditors ; enhance credit access of institutions and individuals ; lower interest rates and facilitate loan processing particularly for borrowers with good credit record ; minimize exposure to risks of financial intermediaries ; and lower intermediation costs that will benefit both the creditors and the borrowers. a recent world bank study covering 51 countries showed that

- border use of collateral. this applies in particular to securitised credits and bank loans in general, which are not covered by the specific directive. 11 even though problems of this kind have not yet emerged, these conflicts could hinder the good functioning of the money markets and interventions by the central banks to restore appropriate liquidity conditions. faster progress is needed towards a single law at european level, at least as far as deposits insurance and liquidity management are concerned. directive 1994 / 19 / ec. directive 2001 / 24 / ec. directive 2002 / 47 / ec. conclusions in conclusion, the european institutional framework continues to be based on a fundamental asymmetry, with a single monetary policy and decentralised systems of supervision and financial regulation, subject to coordination that has increased over time but must be strengthened. if full advantage is to be taken of the economies of scale of the single market, also in the banking and financial sector, of which it forms the backbone, it is necessary to reinforce the common bases of european legislation, in order to ensure at the same time the development and stability of the market. the progress achieved so far in this field is undeniable. but it is also undeniable that this progress is still insufficient to meet the demands for stability and efficiency in europe ’ s financial market. experience shows that in times of relative stability it is very difficult to put into effect regulatory reforms of supervisory systems. institutional changes often take place after turbulence and financial crises. however, experience also shows that hasty changes made under the pressure of an emergency are not always the best. in my opinion, it is possible and necessary to work inside the current system to adopt, in reasonable times, a common rulebook at european level which constitutes a clear point of reference for financial institutions when performing cross - border services and which is applied uniformly by the national authorities. if sufficient progress were not to be made within the current system, the trends under way in the markets could determine a situation in which the only alternative, in order to safeguard the integration and stability of the market, would be a radical review of the european institutional framework in favour of a greater concentration of powers. it is in the interest of those who prefer a decentralised – but coordinated – approach to supervision that rapid progress is made towards the harmonisation of european legislation on financial affairs.