mugur isarescu : economic governance in the european union speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference “ economic governance in the european union ”, jointly organized by the european commission, the ministry of finance and the national bank of romania, bucharest, 10 june 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen, distinguished audience, it is a pleasure be the host of the conference on “ economic governance in the european union ”, an event jointly organized by the european commission, the ministry of finance and the national bank of romania. we are glad to welcome you all and our special guests : mr. gheorghe ialomitianu – the romanian minister of finance, mrs. elena flores, director for policy strategy and coordination in the european commission ’ s dgecfin, mr. theodor stolojan, member of european parliament and former prime minister of romania, mrs. iuliana dascalu, director in the finance ministry of romania, mr. hans martens, chief executive of the european policy centre think - tank and mr. daniel daianu, economics professor, former member of european parliament and finance minister of romania. a special note of thanks to my colleagues deputy governor cristian popa and the chief economist valentin lazea, who, together with our special guests, have responded to the challenge of debating a hot topic. in these challenging times, economic governance was brought to the spotlight by the recent global economic and financial crisis. governance may be seen as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country ’ s social and economic resources for development. we all know that good governance involves setting adequate policies, programs and regulations, which then have to be translated into legislation. as i often say, sustainable development hinges on the consistency of economic policies – there is no substitute for consistent, sound and stability - oriented economic policies. in this context, institutions are central to the way a country is governed and these are the formal and informal rules in a society. as the nobel prize winner douglas north pointed out “ the formal rules are set by the state through laws and regulations, while the informal rules come from the culture, history and experience of each society ”. only in the last 10 – 15 years most economists have discovered good governance – with its four pillars : transparency, accountability, predictability and participation – as a major determinant of economic growth. thus, economic governance implies the need to ensure stable, transparent

benjamin e diokno : the importance of transaction accounts for employee closing remarks by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the financial inclusion forum for the labor sector, manila, 18 november 2019. * * * director bacay and officials from the department of labor and employment ( dole ), leaders and convenors of the various tripartite industrial peace councils ( tipcs ), representatives of associations of informal workers and kasambahays, our partners from digital financial service providers, my colleagues from the bsp, dear friends from the labor and employment sector, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant day to all of you. i trust that this morning ’ s presentations and discussions were informative and productive. to start, we gave everyone an overview of bsp ’ s financial inclusion agenda and digital payments initiatives to put in context our call to promote the use of transaction accounts for payments of salaries. our speakers from the financial service providers also shared practical and actionable ideas on how their products can meet the needs of both wage earners and their employers. i hope these presentations have not only armed you with knowledge, but also inspired you to help become our partners in financial inclusion, particularly through the use of transaction accounts for payment of wages and salaries. nonetheless, allow me to drive home a few more insights on financial inclusion and digital payments. digitalization is rapidly and significantly transforming the way we do things in so many aspects of our lives. we are now able to shop, book a vacation adventure, get a cab, sell goods, watch a movie, wherever and whenever, without having to leave the house and stepping into a physical store. the mobile phone has become such a powerful tool, an almost all - in - one instant access to any type of service one might need. based on the september 2019 global webindex report, there are more than 69 million internet users aged 16 – 64 years old in the philippines. of this number, 91 % searched online for a product and 62 % made an online purchase via a mobile phone. from the same study, 67 % of filipinos have an active social media account. the digital life is upon us, and we can harness this to make sure internet access and mobile phone ownership do not only lead to better social connections and convenient shopping, but also and more importantly, to greater ability for all filipinos to use welfare - enhancing financial