salute the department of education for being our active partner in bringing financial education to millions of our schoolchildren. we also acknowledge the banks who help our youth develop the habit of saving and give lessons on personal finance to teachers and parents. so far, we have made significant strides in the development of the philippine microfinance sector that has liberated millions of entrepreneurial filipinos from poverty and transformed them into net savers in banks. in fact, our latest data indicate that for the first time consolidated bank deposits of microentrepreneurs at over p8 billion have now exceeded their total bank loans. i also thank all the industry groups, all companies – big and small, our partners from both public and private sectors for your support in bangko sentral ’ s advocacies that promote coin recirculation and clean banknotes, as well as protection against counterfeit money and financial scams. once again, ladies and gentlemen, we at the bangko sentral ng pilipinas thank and congratulate all of you for being our active partners in the pursuit of our mandate and in making lives better through better policies and programs. together, let us steer the economy toward balanced, sustained and inclusive growth. maraming salamat sa inyong lahat! mabuhay ang ating mahal na bansang pilipinas! bis central bankers ’ speeches

not based on a false sense of security. but we are motivated to always raise the bar of professional excellence and business integrity for banks. we have the determination and passion to excel in our current craft, of pursuing excellence and constantly improving our work so that we could deliver the best financial services to the filipino consumer and our country. moving mountains that i used mt. everest in an analogy to illustrate our present and on - going journey together is perhaps ambitious enough … and while i have built parallelisms between the two endeavours, i dare say that in our industry the mountains are not static. banking is not unmoving like the formidable everest. there is no final peak to overcome. the bangko sentral celebrated its twenty - fourth ( 24 ) anniversary last week. i have been a central banker for the last thirty - six ( 36 ) years. baiphil marked its seventy - sixth ( 76th ) year this june. as veterans in this field, we know that in banking and in central banking, the process of scaling new heights is an active and continuing endeavour. friends : banking products, financial services and needs, technology and consumer preferences are always levelling up. we have to keep pace. we do this with training and education. we do this with updated and relevant regulations. we do this with partnership as we are confronted with an evolving market landscape of international standards and prudential regulations. our shared strategy necessitates taking a more holistic view of these developments. we do this too by strengthening corporate governance standards and risk management practices. we at the bsp have raised the bar of prudential standards to promote resilience in the banking system and market discipline for risk - taking activities. because of growing regional financial integration and the entry of foreign banks, competition pressures have increased. new sophisticated players such as financial technology solution providers have entered the market. this is a good thing as these bring about a notable and gradual unbundling of the traditional value chain in the philippines and intimately links banks closer to customers. while fintech provides interconnectivity, convenience, and efficiency in delivery of financial 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches products and services, we must also be vigilant as it also ushers in cyber - security concerns. in this regard, the bsp has been laying the groundwork on promoting cyber - security and related regulation on technology. but there is still much to be done. ladies and gentlemen, we know from science that the mountains