benjamin e diokno : old partnerships and renewed beginnings message by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for the trust officers association of the philippines general membership meeting, manila, 25 march 2021. * * * to the directors, officers, and members of the trust officers association of the philippines ( toap ), guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening! it is a pleasure to address the toap once again, this time, at your general membership meeting. it was in november 2020 when i joined your summit. i recall that i challenged your organization to be adaptable, to take advantage of opportunities, so your institution will reach its goals. with the accomplishments of the association, i commend the incumbent officers of toap under the leadership of atty. bobbie conception for ably steering the industry in 2020. 2020 was an extremely difficult year. but don ’ t despair. we are on the way to recovery. we can look to 2021 with guarded optimism. performance of the trust industry nevertheless, the performance of the trust industry in 2020 was impressive. while the level of assets under management ( aum ) for trust and investment management activities did not show significant growth, it is encouraging to note that the aum of unit investment trust funds ( uitfs ) rose by a hefty 22 percent year - on - year by the end of the third quarter of 2020. this development must have been made possible by the online accessibility of uitfs as the number of uitf participants also surged by around 32 percent year - on - year. uitf clients seem to prefer funds that are more liquid and whose products they are more familiar with. as we move forward, we hope that the uitf participants can progress, particularly with respect to the choice of underlying investments, and that in due time uitfs can be an effective vehicle for retail investors to actively participate in the philippine capital markets. apart from uitfs, the bsp expects growth of trust assets to continue this year. following the industry ’ s proposal, the bsp issued circular no. 1109 on february 4, 2021, which lowered to the minimum amount required to maintain an investment management account ( ima ) and to participate in commingled funds to p100 thousand. the circular also expanded the financial assets that a commingled fund can invest in. this is expected to fuel an increase in the

nestor a espenilla, jr : beginning a meaningful conversation - first coordination dialogue on developing the local debt market speech by mr nestor a espenilla, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the local debt market development workshop, manila, 25 august 2017. * * * the securities and exchange commission, the bureau of treasury, and the bangko sentral ng pilipinas are no strangers to coordination and collaboration ( many of our achievements come from working together! ) and while this is not our first time to collaborate, it is the beginning of a new and meaningful conversation. today, we mark a milestone as we unveil the philippine roadmap for developing the local debt market. at the same time, we look forward to engaging in an initial discussion with market participants. this is a great time to begin this conversation! recently, our capital market was recognized as an emerging investment hub in asia by three major debt watchers – moody ’ s, standard and poor ’ s, and fitch. robust economic conditions coupled with government ’ s thrust to promote infrastructure create favourable conditions for capital market deepening. government ’ s vision of a “ golden age of infrastructure ” to support value - added output to the housing, manufacturing, connectivity and agricultural sectors is a game changer. 1 a deeper capital market will mobilize long - term savings for the financing requirements of these priority industries. moreover, gdp is projected to grow at 6. 8 percent in the medium term, with the inflation outlook for the next two ( 2 ) years manageable and within the government ’ s three ( 3 ) percent ± one percentage point target. our international reserves are at a level of eighty point eight billion us dollars ( usd80. 8b ) as of end - july 2017 — enough to cover eight point six ( 8. 6 ) months of imports and payments of goods and services. as if these are not encouraging enough, our discussion on capital market reform received support via technical assistance from the imf. the time is right to talk and take up reforms. colleagues and friends, it is our pleasure to start this conversation with you and to make local history. i am honoured to represent the bsp in this regard. sec commissioner ephyro amatong, treasurer of the philippines, rosalia de leon, representatives of the bankers association of the philippines ( bap ), headed by president nestor tan and bap open