thus, an important opportunity of an integrated asean market is the re - channeling of regional savings back into asean. what do all of these mean for philippine banks? what do you think? to me, this is a task which is squarely within your sphere of competence. with the path ahead defined, it would be a serious error for one to think that all these remain within the realm of the abstract. for your information, the aec blueprint 2025 has been finalized and is freely available for download via the asean website. within that blueprint are identified milestones that are monitored continuously for their progress. thus, the different moving parts that i mentioned earlier have been set in motion and working towards the envisioned outcomes. i have talked about the collective advantage of asean integration but is there a specific upside for the philippines and philippine banks? from the perspective of macroeconomic activity, there is significant room for the philippines to move up because we have arguably more stable fundamentals than most, if not the rest, of the region. we have achieved 72 consecutive quarters of uninterrupted growth, a remarkable record considering the market environment over this period. and today, the philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. in the financial markets, the philippines can target a larger portion of asean savings. here we lag behind indonesia, malaysia, singapore and thailand. the same is true for external trade, another potential growth area for the philippines. in both portfolio investments and in external trade, philippine banks have a clear role to play as an intermediary, paying / collecting agent and investment advisor. of course, the possibilities are not limited to those within the purview of the banking system. taking in more market share within asean means that we move forward to develop our capital market and to institutionalize crossborder payments and settlement arrangements. the critical elements under the asean financial integration framework are securities, insurance, the payment and settlement systems and finally, banking or abif. this is where the philippines can set specific targets for increased market share in the region. ladies and gentlemen. abif is now unfolding — it provides us with opportunities. the strategic issue therefore is how you will now operate given that regional integration is upon us. should you choose to be a qualified asean bank or a qab, you have added opportunities in a bigger market but you have to deal with new aspects of competition, different market conditions, and differences in capital requirements, among others. 2 / 4

yves mersch : means of payments and smes – where are we heading? speech by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the dinner debate, organised by the think tank etienne marcel, paris, 29 september 2015. * 1. * * introduction mr cohen - hadad, ( mr president ) ladies and gentlemen, no economy can prosper without healthy, competitive and flourishing small and mediumsized enterprises ( smes ). they are the foundation on which the european economy is built and constitute more than 99 % of all firms in the euro area. they employ more than two - thirds of the workforce and generate around 60 % of value added. according to recent research, smes accounted for around 85 % of total employment growth between 2002 and 2010 and have much higher employment growth rates than large enterprises. the financial crisis hit the financing of smes particularly hard. this explains why, in recent years, the ecb and the european commission have strongly emphasised measures that support both bank and non - bank financing of the european sme sector. these measures and policy initiatives include strengthening bank financing by facilitating longer - term financing and promoting healthier balance sheets. they also aim to diversify into non - bank financing via more efficient securitisation, better transparency and more efficient wholesale infrastructure. 1 this is why the ecb strongly supports the european commission ’ s initiative to establish a european capital markets union, which will allow businesses to enjoy a greater range of funding choices and help reduce the link between a firm ’ s location and its funding costs. however, there are other policies that have received less public attention in relation to the competitiveness of the european sme sector, one of the most important being integration and innovation in the retail payments market, particularly for payments in euro. this is what i will focus on tonight. 2. past achievements over the past years the public and private sectors have worked together to create the single euro payments area ( sepa ). regulatory measures and market developments have combined to remove the distinction between domestic and cross - border payments in euro. retail payments have become much faster, cheaper and more secure. instead of taking three to five days, euro credit transfers and direct debits are now executed within one business day, not only at the domestic level but also across borders. fees for cross - border euro transactions decreased to the same level as those for domestic transactions. last, but certainly not least, payments in general have become more