that appropriate risk management systems are in place to guard against potential credit and liquidity risks, among others. there should be no room for complacency insofar as risk management is concerned. i believe baiphil ’ s training programs on risk management will go a long way in addressing this need. ensuring the quality of your training programs on good governance is also important, as this counts as compliance to the bsp ’ s mandatory requirement for bank directors and key officers. as you are aware, weak governance and lack of transparency have been cited as among the causes of the continuing global financial crisis and economic downturn. there are other programs that i know baiphil can take on quite effectively, which are aligned with our special advocacies at the bangko sentral ng pilipinas. one of these is economic and financial education for filipinos. so far, we have institutionalized the integration into the public elementary school curriculum lessons on saving and money management starting schoolyear 2008 - 2009. this joint program of the bangko sentral with the department of education targets 12 million students, from grade i to grade vi, or nearly 90 % of filipino children in the elementary schools. this number will increase further as last month, the coordinating council of private educators association or cocopea also expressed its intent to teach saving and money management lessons to elementary students in private schools estimated at over 1. 5 million. we are therefore planting the seeds for nurturing a new generation of filipinos who save regularly and manage their finances properly. they are the future of our nation. they deserve our support. the bangko sentral has also started financial education programs on saving, money management, and investment options for overseas filipinos and their dependents. with baiphil ’ s support, we can cover more ground and extend our reach. this is one way we can express our appreciation to overseas filipinos whose remittances have kept the philippine economy resilient in the midst of the global recession. their monthly remittances have remained above $ 1 billion since 2006 and reached an unprecedented annual level of $ 16. 4 billion in 2008. in 2000, remittances for the whole year were just over $ 6 billion. latest data show that for may 2009, remittances coursed through the banking system reached a record high of $ 1. 48 billion or a yoy growth of 3. 7 percent. total or cumulative remittances for the first 5

felipe m medalla : virtual assets and evolving approaches to regulation speech by mr felipe m medalla, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the 38th bangko sentral ng pilipinas environmental scanning exercise, manila, 26 may 2023. * * * members of the monetary board, resource speakers, colleagues, ladies, and gentlemen, magandang tanghali po. welcome to the 38th bsp [ bangko sentral ng pilipinas ] environmental scanning exercise ( ese ). today's topic is " virtual assets in the philippines. " it is worth noting that although we are talking about virtual assets ( vas ) in the philippines, clearly, the value of vas in the philippines will be determined globally. looking to lessons from government - initiated bans and nonmonetary currencies indeed, [ during ] the conference in cebu that the bsp hosted with the imf [ international monetary fund ], a representative from india asked a very difficult question : " if these vas are primarily designed to avoid and elude government, what should be the government's attitudes toward it? " the logical answer is " panic, " right? but, at the same time, the experience of banning - let us say, in the case of alcohol - if we look at the history of the prohibition, [ it ] actually backfires. the [ act of ] banning itself turns the commodity under the control of the very people you do not like - criminals. the conclusion was [ that ] the regulation of vas must follow a certain global standard. countries all over the world must agree on how to deal with it. note that we keep using [ the term ] " virtual assets, " not " virtual currencies, " because currency, they are not. they are so volatile that when prices are rising, nobody wants to use them [ since people are holding them in anticipation of future gains ]. on the other hand, when it [ the price ] is falling, nobody wants to accept it [ as a medium of exchange ]. i guess, for old graduate students like [ monetary board member ( mbm ) ] eli [ remolona ] and me, it is nice to go back to the evolution of currencies without government. the usual reference point is the evolution of cigarettes as currency in prisoner - of - war camps. there are many lessons to be learned there