bond markets and it soon became the benchmark yield curve for all of the eurozone. eventually, we hope to see a similar benchmark yield curve in the philippines. one that can potentially be smoother than the bval curve. we hope that we can get ideas from this discussion on how some curve - it does not have to be the swaps curve - could gain wide acceptance as a benchmark among market participants. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches all of these may require some government initiative. it maybe that the regulators killed the interest rate swap market, but we want to understand what happened and what could happen after today. so, i hope with today's ese, an amazing thing will also happen, and i think this is a place where we can plant the usual seeds of collaboration to aid capital market development. on that note, i encourage everyone's active participation. let us have a very productive session. maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat! 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches

establishment of the sme credit bureau is indeed a watershed event in cgc ’ s evolution. as a source of credible and reliable credit information that serves the needs of both the smes and the potential financiers, it is a natural progression of cgc's continuous effort to enhance access to financing by smes. the establishment of a sme credit bureau by cgc and d & b would no doubt complement the other initiatives of the government and the financial sector. the significance of the sme credit bureau lies in dispelling the general misconception that smes pose higher financial risk to financiers, lack financial management disciplines and would be unable to provide relevant financial information to their financiers to facilitate assessment and monitoring of loans extended to them. yet, smes are often skeptical of the benefits of credit bureaus, believing them to hurt rather than assist smes in obtaining access to financing. the reality is very different. our own experience in malaysia with the centralised credit reference information system or ccris that is managed by bank negara, and the experience in other developed and developing countries where smes form the backbone of the economy have shown that greater access to credit information has in fact contributed to greater access to financing and reduced loan processing times. by enriching the information available to financiers to support credit risk assessments, the asset quality of financial institutions are also improved, thereby reducing the cost of financing to borrowers and enhancing the capacity of financial institutions to continue extending credit to deserving smes. allow me to elaborate the benefits to smes, with particular reference to the sme credit bureau : firstly, the bureau assists the smes to build track records. one of the key factors in credit evaluation is the historical conduct of accounts. smes that have no previous banking history would not have the “ reputational collateral ” that would otherwise give them easier access to financing. the sme credit bureau will be able to address this information gap by collecting and disseminating information from a wider base, including trade credit data that captures the dealings between smes and their suppliers. in this manner, smes which have no financial relationships with banks, but which have strong credit standing among their trade creditors and suppliers, will be rewarded through favourable ratings that can be used to support financing applications when the need arises. secondly, smes with good track records will not only enjoy a wider acceptance from banks, they will also be able to access financing on