benefits to the retail payments market. for example, merchants were the initial drivers of the introduction of payment cards in the us in the 1930s and, just a couple of years ago, it was a mobile network operator in kenya that succeeded in making mobile payments widespread in that country. psd2 was introduced precisely because there is no good reason for the regulatory framework to protect the rents of banks. but policymakers also need to monitor carefully the system - wide impact of these technologies. innovation should not come at a cost to consumer protection. we do not want a situation where unregulated non - banks create pressure for a race - to - the - bottom among more regulated banks, which might be detrimental consumer security. nor do we want banks that must comply with higher consumer protection standards to be disadvantaged. so going forward, policymakers must ensure that the regulatory landscape is fair : neither stifling new operators, nor harming establishing ones. i say this as a central banker not only because one of the ecb ’ s statutory tasks is to ensure the smooth operation of payment systems. i say it because, ultimately, trust in payments means trust in money as a reliable medium of exchange. for a sound currency, consumers must have 100 % confidence that their money can be exchanged safely. 2. the markets challenge non - banks are not only increasingly entering the retail payments market in the euro area, however ; they are also entering the lending business. this brings me to the second challenge for euro area banks : the markets challenge. for some years now, we have been witnessing a trend towards more capital market - based financing in the euro area, driven by both deleveraging among banks and the very low cost of market finance. looking forward, the capital markets union ( cmu ) project promises to deloitte ( 2015 ), “ payments disrupted : the emerging challenge for european retail banks ”. ibid. bis central bankers ’ speeches further deepen market finance in europe by, among other things, making it easier for young firms to access risk capital and smaller firms to issue bonds, as well as deepening markets for high quality securitisation. so what will this mean for european banks? in the long run, deeper capital markets may lead to more competition in the provision of financial services and hence weaken banks ’ market power. for example, research looking at the pre - crisis period suggests that where banks face limited competition in their domestic markets, they tend to charge higher margins for lending to sm

benjamin e diokno : sustaining the philippine growth momentum speech by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the rotary club of manila centennial year celebration, manila, 6 june 2019. * * * president susing pineda, fellow rotarians, friends, all the rcm journalism awardees special guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. thank you for inviting me to be one of your speakers in this historical centennial anniversary celebration of the rotary club of manila. not many organizations have the distinction of reaching the all - important “ century ” milestone. attaining this momentous landmark is certainly not a walk in the park for any organization. that the rcm have lasted this long is a reflection not only of its long - standing commitment to its ideals and goals, but also of its dynamism, relevance, and influence to the community it serves. for this, the men of the rcm deserve our congratulations! ( governor leads applause ). i thus consider it a privilege that i stand here before you today to share with you the bsp ’ s assessment of the country ’ s growth prospects. the philippine economy is sound, its prospects are bright. along many dimensions, allow me to highlight several factors that continue to steer our story of resilience and stability, and to point out some key challenges that need to be addressed in our drive towards sustainable and balanced growth. let me begin with this slide which shows that overall prospects for the philippine economy for 2019 and in 2020 remain bright, amid mounting global uncertainties along with emerging domestic challenges. while the q1 2019 growth of the philippine economy of 5. 6 percent was short of our target of 6. 0 to 7. 0 percent, it remains one of the highest in the region and perhaps the world. this performance was achieved notwithstanding the delay in the approval of the 2019 national budget which held back the implementation of key programs and projects. based on the statistics by the national economic development authority ( neda ), the philippine economy should have grown by at least one percentage point higher, at 6. 6 to 7. 2 percent in the first quarter, had the 2019 fiscal program been approved on time. nonetheless, the government has crafted a “ catch - up ” plan to make up for the lower - than - planned state spending in the first quarter. and the consensus is that we will hit our target of 6 - 7 % growth this