felipe m medalla : opening message for s & p annual review opening message by mr felipe m medalla, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for the s & p annual review, manila, 30 august 2022. * * * first of all, i'd like to thank the members of s & p for coming over here. let me explain our actions in the central bank and our overall conduct of monetary policy. i have been a member of the monetary board since 2011 a€ “ first appointed by president aquino, reappointed by president duterte, and more recently, appointed by president marcos to be governor. i guess i represent continuity. we're often asked what the central bank does and whether it grapples with the classic tradeoff between growth and inflation. before i tell you that, let me share that the taylor rule is part of our analytical tool kit. for those who are not familiar, it's a very simple equation where the adjustment in the policy rate [ is examined against ] some weighted sum between the deviation of actual inflation to target and deviation of output growth from natural growth rate capacity. in other words, high inflation means higher policy rate ; low output means lower policy rate. i cannot remember a day in any monetary board meeting where we haven't used the taylor rule. in other words, we're a lot more focused on inflation than, let's say, the fed. there's a very simple reason for that : as a small, open economy, a lot of our inflation actually has little to do with the tightness of labor markets. the other reason [ why we're focused on inflation ] is that the inflation that we fail to fight now will be the inflation that we will fight tomorrow. it's not a good idea to wait till tomorrow. procrastination is the worst formula you can ever have because postponing fighting inflation is like postponing fighting a disease. when it gets stronger, you will need stronger medicine. if you take a little bit longer than a year, there's very little conflict between stable prices and economic growth. indeed, if you wait too long, inflation is so high your output loss would be greater later on. it's really a tradeoff between fighting it now, when the output loss is smaller, and fighting it later, when the output loss could already be bigger. this

shaktikanta das : opportunities and challenges of fintech keynote address by mr shaktikanta das, governor of the reserve bank of india, at fintech conclave 2019, organized by niti aayog, new delhi, 25 march 2019. * * * i am extremely happy to participate in niti aayog ’ s fintech conclave 2019 and share my thoughts on the technological revolution that is shaping the future of finance. i am particularly thankful to shri amitabh kant, ceo of niti aayog for having invited me to such an august gathering. as i understand, this conclave is woven around the theme of indian fintech ecosystem as well as steps required to help achieve the potential that the sector offers towards growth, employment and inclusion. given the wide canvas that fintech encompasses, i have organised my thoughts on some of the core issues in this area. 2. in general, fintech stands for financial technology and describes technologically enabled financial innovations. from ‘ start - ups ’ to ‘ big - techs ’ to established financial institutions, all the key players are harnessing this technological edge along the financial services ’ value chain to provide agile, efficient and differentiated experiences to the end - user. this movement has the potential to fundamentally transform the financial - landscape where consumers will get to choose from a larger set of options at competitive prices and financial institutions could improve efficiency through lower operational costs. as a country that is determined to achieve universal financial inclusion at affordable costs, this is a defining moment for us, and we should seize the opportunity. fintech experience in india 3. india has been at the forefront of this revolution. a recent global survey ranks india second in terms of fintech adoption, with an adoption rate of 52 per cent 1. it is reported that there are as many as 1218 fintech firms operating in india which have created a large number of jobs. they are also generating a healthy appetite for investment. 4. the reserve bank has over the years encouraged greater use of electronic payments so as to achieve a “ less - cash ” society. the objective has been to provide a payment system that combines the attributes of safety, security, enhanced convenience and accessibility, leveraging technological solutions that enable faster processing. affordability, interoperability, and customer awareness and protection have also been other focus areas. banks have been the traditional gateway to payment services. however, with the fast pace of technological changes, this domain is no longer the monopoly of banks