agenda of pursuing financial stability and mitigating systemic risks. regulators talk of this continuously and we have set this as a threshold of prudential policy moving forward. many may argue however that financial stability is best left to regulators. after all, each bank is well aware of its own actions, its balance sheet and performance metrics but certainly not of each and every other bank out in the market. should you not then focus on the bottom line and leave the “ big picture ” to the prudential authority? this is an easy argument to make. but i believe it to be only half true. while regulators need to understand and take action on what can impair the system as a whole, this cannot be simply a task of one stakeholder. how can the greatest good be achieved if not all stakeholders assume collective responsibility? we believe that it is useful for all other stakeholders to have a working appreciation of that same big picture that regulators routinely worry about. from a capacity - building standpoint, this is ground zero. all other training initiatives will emanate from this. capital market issues such as products and markets, pricing and valuation, and market infrastructure easily emanate from the same framework. all these training topics are quite technical in their own regard but there is a direct way to make them part of one common objective. training opportunities in the basel accord, icaap, stress testing, risk management, good governance, compliance framework, among others, can then be brought to bear on this singular prudential goal of achieving stability. final thoughts ladies and gentlemen, while we have made strides, we should not rest on our laurels. to say that much more needs to be done is an understatement. the truth is that a lot more than “ much more ” must be done if we are to continuously move forward. but the tasks ahead are not independent strands but should instead be seen as part of a single process. just like the relays in athletics, each stakeholder plays a unique role so that the baton is faithfully passed on from one leg to the next. those of you who know the 4 - by - 100 relays understand that the winning team is not always made up of the four fastest runners. relays are not only about sheer speed. rather, most races are won – and lost – in the baton hand - off. capacity - building is just like these competitive relays. the skill set that one develops is the speed that allows us to

constituents who either must execute or those that can benefit from these reforms. it is for this reason that i truly appreciate your theme for the coming fiscal year of “ levellingup : linking action with vision ”. in a short phrase, you emphasize the need for direction through vision but likewise realize that success requires affirmative action. towards this end, the bsp values the efforts of baiphil to step up its capability - building initiatives. we also welcome baiphil ’ s move to thoroughly align its varied activities with its vision of providing excellent banking support at par with the best in the asia pacific. achieving this singular goal alone will demand unity of purpose throughout the organization. down the road, we see that this will result not only in a rise in the number of seminars for bank personnel. more importantly, we expect this to translate to responsive training programs that enable bankers to keep up with the fast - changing global environment. it is clear to us that today ’ s financial market norms are markedly different compared to practices just a decade or two ago. we now live in an era of stricter capital requirements, steeper yardsticks of governance and higher standards of consumer protection. we certainly expect banking practices to evolve as global markets grapple further with the lingering global financial crisis. indeed, the only thing that remains constant is change itself. but financial markets rarely give us the opportunity to pause and dictate the changes that are evolving before us. banks – with all the formalities of an organization and its brick and mortar structures – must always be ready to adjust if they are to meet the changing needs of their own publics. this is a hurdle … but not an impossibility. to be able to put themselves in a position to be this flexible, banks must ensure that both skills and knowledge are already in place before change takes root. the reform agenda as a training guide this seems to be an oxymoron : to ask banks to have skills and knowledge in place well before these competencies will be demanded by the changes in front of us. bis central bankers ’ speeches however, this investment in capacity is precisely what is dictated by today ’ s market landscape. we need to anticipate change and by doing so, we allow ourselves the opportunity to parlay the uncertainties of change into opportunities that come with vigilance. there is then a convenient nexus between the agenda of reform and the dictates of capacitybuilding. from our perspective, nothing is more urgent than the policy