amando m tetangco, jr : empowering entrepreneurs through responsive microfinance programs speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the 2013 citi microentrepreneurship awards ( cma ) awarding ceremonies, manila, 3 december 2013. * * * magandang hapon sa inyong lahat! we are gathered once again to celebrate a happy event : the awarding of our top achievers in the philippine microfinance sector. i can tell you that it took a lot of work : we had to go through evaluation, discussions and validation. but in the end, we are very pleased that we continue to see many inspiring success stories of filipino microentrepreneurs. let us therefore acknowledge all those involved in this citi microentrepreneurship award : citi philippines represented by country officer batara sianturi ; microfinance council of the philippines ( mcpi ) represented by chairman mila banker ; the officers and staff of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas ; and finally, our amazing and committed members of the board of judges under the national selection committee which include : mr. batara sianturi, mr. antonino alindogan, jr. and ms. marixi rufino - prieto. atty felipe gozon is represented by ms. teresita pacis of gma. we also acknowledge the presence of mr. michael zink, head of asean and singapore country officer of citi, as well as mbm felipe medalla, adviser to the bsp microfinance committee. and most of all, we congratulate all the finalists and all the winners of the 2013 citi microentrepreneurship awards for continuing to surprise us with your creativity, your discipline, and your humility even as you achieve your goals in the face of many challenges that come your way. congratulations po sa inyong lahat. through you, we are reassured again and again that microfinance is a viable option for entrepreneurial pinoys. eleven years na po tayo and counting. our family of awardees keep growing and you continue to make us proud. ipinagma - malaki namin kayo. dahil po dito, we continue to find ways to enhance our annual awards program. this year for instance, we

eli m remolona : establishing a benchmark yield curve - why we need it and how can we do it? speech by mr eli m remolona, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the 40th environmental scanning exercise, manila, 7 june 2024. * * * members of the monetary board, bsp ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ) colleagues, esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. let me add my welcome to mbm ( monetary board member ) annie's ( anita linda aquino ) welcome. welcome to this 40th environmental scanning exercise ( ese ). this year marks a milestone. we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of this exercise. for the past two decades, ese has been fertile ground for policy discussions at the bsp. today our focus is on the topic, " building a benchmark yield curve using interest rate swaps. " i have my own strong views on this topic, but because we have such an excellent lineup of presenters and discussions, i expect those views to change. allow me to share those views. as many of you know, a benchmark yield curve is something we need to strengthen the transmission mechanism of our monetary policy. it is also part and parcel of the goal of developing the country's capital markets. a benchmark yield curve is one that serves to reconcile the diverse views of market participants. this makes it very useful for pricing other instruments including mortgages and corporate term loans. at present, we rely on something called bval ( bloomberg valuation service ) for our yield curve. i have described this curve as a very choppy curve. that choppiness is an indication of a fragmented bond market with liquidity shifting from one maturity to another. perhaps, one way to fix this is to revive our interest rate swap market. i say revive because i was told we used to have such market and i do not understand why it died. in the eurozone, when that economy switched to a common currency in 2000, their bond market was also a fragmented one. the most active ones were the german bond market, the italian bond market, and the french bond market, in that order in terms of turnover. then, an amazing thing happened out of nowhere. the euro interest rate swap market emerged. by 2001, within one year, the turnover in the swap market had surpassed the turnover in those other three