within reach

Bringing the BSP Closer to the

Filipino People in 2019

[Link]/BangkoSentralngPilipinas @BangkoSentral @BangkoSentral Bangko Sentral

within reach
Bringing the BSP Closer to the
Filipino People in 2019
This report is based on materials submitted in
December 2019. The complete 2019 BSP Annual Report
will be uploaded on the BSP website in July 2020.

Published by the BSP Communication Office

CONTENTS

About the BSP 4

BSP Vision and Mission 5

BSP Highlights 6

The BSP’s Three Pillars of Central Banking 12

First Pillar: Price Stability 15

Second Pillar: Financial Stability 19

Third Pillar: Efficient Payments and 23

Settlements System

Financial Inclusion 26

More Milestones 29

Moving Forward 30

1
2
“As a civil servant for more than four
decades, uplifting the lives of the
poor and low-income households
has always been one of my thrusts.
And here at the BSP, I am glad to
be able to contribute to that in a
tangible way.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Governor
@GovBenDiokno

3
 About the BSP
“The Congress shall establish an independent central
monetary authority…(which) shall provide policy direction
in the areas of money, banking and credit. It shall have
supervision over the operations of banks and exercise
such regulatory powers as may be provided by law over
the operations of finance companies and other institutions
performing similar functions.”

—Section 20, Article XII, 1987 Constitution

“The State shall maintain a central monetary authority

that shall function and operate as an independent and
accountable body corporate in the discharge of its
mandated responsibilities concerning money, banking
and credit. In line with this policy, and considering
its unique functions and responsibilities, the central
monetary authority established under this Act, while being
a government-owned corporation, shall enjoy fiscal and
administrative autonomy.”
—Section 1, Article 1, Chapter 1
Republic Act No. 7653 (The New Central Bank Act)

4
The BSP Vision The BSP Values
The BSP aims to be recognized globally as the
monetary authority and primary financial Excellence - Consistently doing our best
system supervisor that supports a strong to master our craft, continually improving
economy and promotes a high quality of life our competencies and learning new things in
for all Filipinos. pursuit of organizational goals, comparable
to the best practices of other central banks

Patriotism - Selfless commitment to the

The BSP Mission service of the Filipino people and the country

To promote and maintain price stability, Integrity - Performing mandate with

a strong financial system, and a safe and sincerity, honesty and uprightness, worthy of
efficient payments and settlements system respect and emulation of others
conducive to a sustainable and inclusive
growth of the economy.
Solidarity - Performing with team spirit;
acting and thinking as one in the pursuit of
common goals and objectives

Accountability - Taking full responsibility

for one’s or group’s actions

5
 2019
at a glance: BSP highlights

Islamic Banking Act

(Republic Act [RA]
No. 11439) signed

BSP is top government

agency based on
Management Association of
the Philippines and Makati
Business Club polls
FINE FINE
GOLD GOLD

Law strengthening country’s

999.9 999.9

NET WT NET WT
1000 g 1000 g

gross international reserves

(RA No. 11256) passed

Amendments to BSP Charter

(RA No. 11211) signed into
law

6
BSP receives gold award for
human resource management
from the Civil Service
Commission

Artificial intelligence
and data management
initiatives gain
recognition in
Singapore
Coin design and
education program
recognized in the IACA
Excellence in Currency
2019 Coin Awards in
Rome, Italy

7
8
“We will intentionally bring the
BSP closer to the people. A central
bank cannot operate from an ivory
tower. It is important that BSP
stakeholders understand what we
are mandated to do. It is crucial that
our stakeholders trust our integrity
and our capability to carry out our
mandate.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Bankers’ Reception
July 26, 2019

9
 BSP AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
IACA Excellence in Currency 2019 Coin
Awards in Rome, Italy
• Finalist, Best New Circulating Coin/Coin Series
• Finalist, Best Public Education Program
The International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA)
recognized the BSP’s New Generation Currency (NGC) Coin
Series for its enhanced aesthetic, cutting-edge security features,
and improved wear and corrosion resistance during an awards
ceremony on Oct. 15, 2019. The BSP also received a distinction
for its Coin Education Campaign that came with the successful
issuance of circulation of these coins.

Gold Award for Human Resource

Management from the Civil
Service Commission (CSC)
The central bank bagged the award on Nov. 28, 2019
after qualifying for the highest maturity level of 4 under
the CSC’s Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and
Excellence in Human Resource Management (PRIME-
HRM) in government agencies.

LAWS PASSED:
Amendments to BSP Charter (Republic Act No. 11211,
or An Act Amending RA No. 7653, Otherwise Known as
the ‘New Central Bank Act’, and for Other Purposes)
The new BSP Charter, signed into law on Feb. 14, 2019, embodies a package of reforms that
will further align its operations with global best practices, improve the BSP’s corporate viability,
and enhance its capacity for crafting proactive policies amid rising interlinkages in the financial
markets and the broader economy.

The Gold Bill (RA No. 11256, or An Act to Strengthen

the Country’s Gross International Reserves)
The law exempts from excise and income tax the sale of gold sourced from small-scale mining
activities to the BSP. The measure also covers the sale of gold by small-scale miners to accredited
traders for the eventual disposal to the central bank. RA 11256 was signed into law on March 29,
2019.

10
BSP as top government agency
by business executives
Results of the Makati Business Club (MBC)
Executive Outlook Survey showed that 97
percent of respondents expressed satisfaction
with the performance of the BSP, which ranked
highest among government entities for the 25th
time this year. This was up from 95.4 percent
in August 2015 wherein the BSP also topped
the list of rated state institutions. The survey,
participated in by 100 business executives and
released last July 24, 2019, was conducted by the
MBC and the Management Association of the
Philippines.

Central Banking Fintech and Regtech

Global Awards in Singapore
• Artificial Intelligence Initiative
• Data Management Initiative
The BSP won in two categories during the award ceremony held
on Sept. 4, 2019 for its: (1) Artificial Intelligence Initiative for its
development of a prototype chatbot programmed to provide the
public with a more accessible and efficient means to engage the
BSP on financial consumer concerns, and (2) Data Management
Initiative for developing a prototype API-based prudential
reporting system meant to strengthen its supervisory capacity in a
rapidly evolving financial services landscape.

Islamic Banking Law (RA No. 11439, or an Act

Providing for the Regulation and Organization
of Islamic Banks)
The recently enacted law, signed on Aug. 22, 2019, aims to
unleash the full potential of what the country has started in
1973 as an early mover in Islamic financing—to promote
real socioeconomic development in Muslim Mindanao
through Islamic Financing. RA No. 11439 is envisioned
to facilitate the development of Islamic Financing in the
country by allowing other domestic and foreign Islamic
banking players, either full-fledged Islamic banks or Islamic
banking windows, to operate.

11
 “The BSP will remain steadfast in
pursuing well-advised policymaking,
preserving our credibility, while also
undertaking continued reforms to better
fulfill our mandates of price stability,
financial stability, and efficient payments
and settlements system.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Bloomberg Leadership Roundtable Discussion
Aug. 5, 2019

12
13
14
first
pillar
PRICE STABILITY
To meet its primary objective of maintaining price stability, the
BSP formulated and implemented monetary policy that ensures a
balanced and conducive growth of the economy.

Inflation
The inflation environment has been favorable in With this positive policy environment, the
2019. After peaking at 6.7 percent in September BSP has been able to cut the policy rate by a
2018, inflation continued its downward trend, total of 75 basis points, as well as the reserve
dropping at 0.8 percent in October 2019 (the requirement ratio (RRR) by a cumulative 400
lowest in over three years) and settling at 1.3 basis points, bringing down the RRR for universal
percent in November 2019. The year-to-date and commercial banks to 14 percent beginning
average inflation rate is 2.6 percent—well within December 6. A lower RRR promotes a more
the government’s target range of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 efficient financial system by lowering financial
percentage points. intermediation costs. The adjustment in RRR is
also aimed at increasing domestic liquidity in
The latest baseline figures support the BSP’s support of credit activity in the economy.
estimates that inflation is likely to settle within
the lower half of the target band of 3.0 percent
± 1 percentage point for 2019 up to 2021.
With low and stable inflation, Filipinos’ strong
purchasing power is ensured. It also affords them
a sense of security in making other economic
decisions such as saving and investing. For the
national government, this boosts its efforts to
pump prime the economy, redounding to more
jobs and opportunities for all Filipinos.

15
 External debt
management
The BSP facilitated the Monetary Board (MB)
approval of various public sector foreign loans/
borrowings intended to fund several National

Loans and credit

Government projects, including transport
connectivity, agriculture development, and
flood management in Metro Manila.
Through its Electronic Rediscount System
The BSP also enabled the registration of several (eRediscounting), the BSP ensured efficient
private sector borrowings to fund legitimate delivery of credit to 16 banks from January
transactions. These foreign loans/borrowings to October 2019—enabling these banks to
were used for working capital purposes, immediately service the financing needs of their
purchase of equipment and services, expansion borrowers. Through the rediscounting facility,
activities, payment of existing loan obligations, banks are able to obtain funds, using their
and bid securities related to a project, among otherwise illiquid assets, which may be used
others. to extend new loans to the general public and
communicate the monetary policy stance of the

Foreign
BSP.

exchange policy
The BSP has also approved the requests for
settlement of past due loans of 29 end-user

formulation and
borrowers of closed banks through modification
and creation of MB Resolutions, giving them

implementation
a chance to start anew with a clean slate and
improve the quality of their lives. The BSP’s
settlement schemes available for end-user
borrowers allow them to pay their past due loans
The issuance of Circular No. 1030, which became
with closed banks under more liberal terms,
effective in March 2019, broadened the coverage
which were eventually assigned to BSP.
of inward investment transactions, expanded
the list of banks allowed to register investments
on behalf of BSP, and expanded the coverage
of allowed outward investment transactions.
These reforms aim to further facilitate access
to FX resources of the banking system to fund
legitimate transactions of various stakeholders
through the registration of foreign investments,
among others.

16
Economic Learning Activities
Public Information Campaigns about the BSP Knowledge Resource Network (KRN)
To promote public awareness and understanding Knowledge Resource Collections (KRCs) have
about the BSP as an institution, the Bank held been established in 265 partner libraries. These
public information campaigns (PICs) on the role KRCs expanded the reach of BSP’s publications
of the BSP in the economy, its core functions related to monetary policy strategy, objectives,
and responsibilities, and essential economic and decisions through KRN’s free information
concepts and issues. Outreach learning programs resource sharing and reference assistance service.
were conducted in La Union, Cebu, and Davao
with members of the media, bloggers, opinion- Oratorical contest
makers, student organizations, and national-scale The BSP continues to support the advocacy of
associations, and educators. Learning sessions the Department of Education (DepEd) through
were also held in BSP Manila for students and the conduct of the annual BSP-DepEd Oratorical
participants of the National Youth Congress. Contest. The event provides an effective platform
The topics covered were monetary and financial for young Filipino student-orators to showcase
statistics, balance of payments and external their public speaking skills and instill awareness
accounts, expectations surveys, consumer finance among the youth on the crucial role of statistics in
survey and interest rates, and recent economic achieving the country’s development goals.
developments.

“The BSP’s effective pursuit of our primary

mandate of maintaining price stability puts
the country in a better position to attain
inclusive growth. We foster a macroeconomic
environment conducive for investments and
supportive of job generation and employment.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Bloomberg Leadership
Roundtable Discussion
Aug. 5, 2019

17
18
SECOND
pillar
FINANCIAL
Efficient
registration and
licensing of non-
bank financial
institutions (NBFIs)
STABILITY The BSP approved and registered pawnshops,
money service businesses (MSBs), non-
In pursuit of its mandate to promote a secure and
stock savings and loan association (NSSLA)
reliable banking system and maintain financial
satellite offices, branches and agents that are
stability, the BSP has ensured the safe and sound
strategically placed across the country to serve
operation of banks and other BSP-supervised financial
as intermediaries to the unbanked and unserved/
institutions (BSFIs).
underserved populace.

As of Nov. 29, 2019, these NBFIs include:

• 63 NSSLAs with 66 branches and 176 extension/
On-site satellite offices;
• 883 pawnshops with 1,582 branches;
examination and •193 pawnshops with MSBs with 10,839
branches; and
off-site surveillance • 807 remittance and transfer companies/money
changers/foreign exchange dealers with 6,011
of BSFIs branches present nationwide, giving Filipinos
access to useful and affordable financial products
The BSP conducts off-site surveillance and on- and services.
site examination of BSFIs under its supervision.
This year, the BSP’s Financial Supervision Sector In the case of NSSLAs, clients served are the
conducted a total of 471 on-site examinations of private sector, government employees, and
universal/commercial/foreign bank branches, military and uniformed personnel.
thrift, rural, cooperative, non-bank financial
institutions, and branches/foreign subsidiaries of Given the number of NBFIs nationwide, the
local banks and these institutions’ subsidiaries. financial services available in the system are
The Bank’s examiners regularly monitored made easily accessible to ordinary Filipinos which
and deployed appropriate supervisory actions, uplift the way they live and in turn, contribute to
implemented efficient and effective evaluation, and financial inclusion—one of the main advocacies of
ensured BSFIs’ compliance with BSP regulations, the BSP. As an example, pawnshops/MSBs in the
directives, and other applicable standards. country are used as cash agents of banks to reach
residents in cities and those in the countryside.

19
 Prompt processing Approval of six new
and evaluation of virtual currency
requests from BSFIs exchanges (VCEs)
With the establishment of additional branches As the bulk of virtual currency (VC) activities
and branch-lite units, financial products and represents remittance or fund transfer transactions,
services are made accessible to the unbanked entities that convert or exchange fiat currency to
and/or underserved communities. This also VC or vice versa should register with the BSP as
supports the BSP’s strategic advocacy of remittance transfer companies (RTCs), pursuant
promoting financial inclusion by enabling more to BSP Circular No. 944 s. 2017. This ensures that
Filipinos to transact with financial institutions. basic requirements for RTCs such as minimum
capital, internal controls, consumer protection,
Likewise, the approval of additional licenses/ regulatory reports and compliance with the Anti-
authorities allows BSP-supervised financial Money Laundering Act, as amended, shall likewise
institutions (BSFI) to expand the scope of their apply to VC exchanges. The use of VC has the
services to the public. The BSP ensures that only potential to substantially reduce cross-border
BSFIs that demonstrate effective governance and remittance costs and improve the efficiency
risk management systems are given the authority of remittances by leveraging its block chain-
or license to perform other specialized functions/ distributed-ledger technology.
activities.

Approval of 13 rural Widening access to

banks’ outsourcing financial services
of core banking Key reforms in accelerating the growth of Personal
Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) initiatives

platforms under a The digitalization of PERA, which aims to

promote savings mobilization and capital market

cloud environment development by establishing a legal and regulatory

framework of retirement plans for Filipinos, and
other related initiatives will make PERA more
Migration of core banking platforms into accessible and affordable to all Filipinos, here
cloud-based solutions enable banks to digitally and abroad. This will encourage more Filipinos to
transform their IT and enterprise risk prepare financially for their retirement.
management capabilities, improve operational
efficiency, and increase capital usage as well This initiative aims to deliver seamless end-to-
as compliance to regulatory and reporting end online processes for PERA while allowing
requirements. In addition, this also enables 24/7 access for Filipino investors anywhere in the
banks to reach the underserved and unbanked world. The BSP’s PERASys Enhancement project
populations through digital means, provide them funded by the Asian Development Bank is already
innovative products and services, and facilitate completed, while the digital PERA platform is in
efficient on-boarding of clients and opening of the final stages of development by the industry. The
accounts through electronic means. digital platform will be launched early next year.

20
 Stakeholder
engagement
Cooperative Banking Summit
As part of the BSP effort to strengthen cooperatives
and cooperative banks in the country, the
Financial Supervision Sector organized the first
Cooperative Banking Summit held on Aug. 28, 2019.
Representatives of the cooperative banking sector
and the Cooperative Development Authority attended
the summit, which served as a venue to discuss issues
and concerns confronting the cooperative banking
sector. It also paved the way for the finalization of a
draft Cooperative Banking Law which, if approved by
Congress, is expected to have a material impact on the
lives of ordinary Filipinos.

Proactive and responsive consumer

welfare supervision
Public advisories on emerging issues affecting use Amendments to the BSP regulations on
or access to financial services that may expose the disqualification and watchlisting
public to undue risk The enhancement of current regulations on
The advisory on money mules issued on Oct. 29, disqualification and watchlisting strengthens
2019 informs the general public about this the BSP’s supervision by preventing undesirable
fraudulent scheme and how they can protect persons from holding directorship and/or
themselves from it. It also warns the public that officership position in any BSFI. The amendments
money mules can be held liable for the crime further aim to complement the established fit and
involved as well as for money laundering, pursuant proper rule, ensuring the integrity of the banking
to Republic Act No. 9160, or the Anti-Money system.
Laundering Act of 2001, as amended.
Moreover, actions and decisions of incumbent
On the other hand, the advisory on VC ATMs on directors and officers are continuously monitored
June 13, 2019 informs VC users to deal only with to ensure that these are not self-serving and
BSP-registered VCEs and maintain only a sufficient detrimental to the BSFI and the public. A database
amount of VC to cover transactional requirements. of watchlisted/disqualified bank personnel is
maintained to ensure that the BSFI is governed and
Development of the BSFI Consolidated Complaints managed by people with integrity and competence.
Report (BCCR) Reporting System Ultimately, this upholds confidence in the financial
The BCCR System enables a comprehensive, timely, system and encourages more people to transact
and accurate tracking of customer complaints and with financial institutions.
resolutions handled by each supervised institution.
It also provides the BSP with a holistic view of top
customer issues as well as emerging trends as it put
together its reports on consumer protection and
welfare.

21
22
third
pillar
EFFICIENT PAYMENTS AND
SETTLEMENTS SYSTEM
The BSP is mandated to ensure the safe, timely, and accurate payment and settlement of financial transactions.

Issuance of Circular Approval of

No. 1033 on the block chain-
amendments to based remittance
electronic banking platforms
services and This empowers Filipinos, particularly those living

other electronic
in rural areas, to transfer funds by simply going
to their local rural and community banks at a

operations
more affordable fee. The approval of the platform
will especially benefit provincial residents, who
previously had no choice but to go to remittance
The circular streamlines the process of securing centers whenever they needed to send funds to
licenses to engage in Electronic Payments and their children or relatives.
Financial Services (EPFS), doing away with the

₱
tedious approval process of requiring conditional
and final approval.

In line with this, the Monetary Board approved

the applications of seven new non-bank electronic
money instruments (EMIs) in 2019, bringing the
total number of non-bank EMIs to 19. Send

As an example, one of these non-bank EMIs

enables ship management companies to pay the
salaries of seafarers using e-money in a secured
environment, minimizing insurance costs as well
as the need for vessel owners to store piles of
cash onboard.

23
 Launch of EGov Launch of QRPh
Pay Philippines The BSP has issued a policy on the adoption of a
national quick response or QR code standard in the
Following the successful pilot launch of the country to transform the fragmented QR-driven
Digital Tax Payment Service using PESONet on payment services into interoperable payment
Aug. 15, 2019, the BSP approved the on-boarding solutions, eliminating the need for the merchants
of other government agencies and other payment and customers to maintain several accounts. On
system providers (PSPs) to digitalize government Nov. 20, 2019, the industry launched “QRPh” as
collections. the National QR Code Standard. This QR code logo
unifies the various domestic cashless payment
On Nov. 20, 2019, the Landbank-hosted payment schemes that make use of the QR Code as a form
portal was expanded to enable government factor. The standard can be used for multiple
agencies and private sector Linkbiz entities to payment schemes such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) QR
accept e-payments. The smooth pilot run of via InstaPay and Peer-to-Merchant (P2M) QR.
Linkbiz involving the Bureau of Internal Revenue
prompted the BSP to approve the inclusion of
other government agencies in Linkbiz, as well
as the addition of more PESONet member-banks
and non-bank e-money issuers as sources of
Digital Payments
payments to the Linkbiz-enrolled government
agencies.
Leaders’ Summit
The summit, held last Dec. 2, 2019 at the BSP Main
Office, identified key areas of cooperation, namely:
social benefit transfers; payments to merchants
and billers, including payments to the government;
payments to suppliers; and remittances, which
are critical use cases in making digital payments
widely available and acceptable throughout the
country. This event was participated in by leaders
from the government and the private sectors
who renewed their commitment to accelerate the
adoption of electronic payments in the country.

National Banking Week

₱ ₱
1-7 January 2020
Fintech: Bringing banking services
closer to the people

24
“The digital life is upon us, and we can
harness this to make sure Internet access and
mobile phone ownership do not only lead to
better social connections and convenient
shopping, but also and more importantly, to
greater ability for all Filipinos to use welfare-
enhancing financial services.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Financial Inclusion Forum
for the Labor Sector
Nov. 18, 2019

25
 FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Through the years, the BSP has created an enabling policy environment, effectively
rallied the private sector on the business case of financial inclusion, and organized
the government through the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion.

Expansion of low-cost touchpoints

Heightened implementation of through cash agents
the Basic Deposit Account (BDA) As of the second quarter of 2019, the country
already had 7,186 cash agents, or third-party
As of the second quarter of 2019, there were
entities that can conduct a number of financial
113 banks offering BDA with a total of 2.2
activities on behalf of banks. The BSP issued
million account holders, a significant gain which
Circular 940 in 2017 providing the framework for
resulted from the BSP’s issuance and continuous
these cash agents, in an effort to address the issue
promotion of Circular 992 in 2018. The issuance
of access to one’s account at a time and place of
simplified the ownership of a transaction
one’s convenience. Through cash agents, people
account, which is considered a cornerstone of
can cash-in, cash-out, and perform basic banking
financial inclusion.
transactions via their local convenience store,
pharmacy, or gas station.

Promotion of transaction accounts

for the payment of workers’ salaries Promotion of transaction
and disbursements accounts for the disbursement
of government cash transfers
To promote financial inclusion of the labor sector,
particularly the payment of workers’ salaries through With the objective of promoting the use of
transaction accounts, the BSP is actively engaging transaction accounts as a first step toward
the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) financial inclusion, the BSP is actively
in light of its position to shape policy with regard to engaging the Department of Social Welfare and
the payment of wages. Through this engagement, the Development (DSWD) in the use of transaction
DOLE committed to issue an advisory encouraging accounts for disbursements of government
the use of transaction accounts for workers’ salaries cash transfers. The engagement has resulted
and to collaborate with the BSP in the roll-out of in DSWD moving for its adoption, in addition
information sessions on such payment methods at to exploring other use cases for transaction
the regional level. accounts.

26
 Providing MSMEs with another
Financial education avenue to secure financing
The BSP recognizes that to effectively promote through Credit Rating Database
financial education, coordinated multi-stakeholder
action is needed. Through a Memorandum As of the fourth quarter of 2018, the percentage of
of Agreement between the BSP and various MSMEs loans to total loans in the banking system
government agencies, financial education will be amounted to 6.2 percent. The BSP was able to
embedded in programs that reach students in the secure the support of the Japan International
K-12; overseas Filipinos who attend pre-departure Cooperation Agency in developing Credit Risk
and post-arrival orientation seminars; conditional Database (CRD) in the Philippines. The CRD aims
and unconditional cash transfer recipients; to enable financial institutions to capture the
uniformed personnel; MSMEs; the civil service; and credit risks of MSMEs to bring financing closer to
“new-to-work” employees. them.

The BSP is also exploring partnerships with the

private sector to promote digital literacy as an
important skill for the effective use of financial
services.
Consumer empowerment

To further strengthen its redress

mechanism, as well as its complaints
Support for Agriculture and Micro Small data gathering and analytics, the BSP
and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be procuring a chatbot, making
through Agri Value Chain Financing the BSP the first central bank to make
(AVCF) use of such technology in automating
its consumer assistance management
Through the conduct of initial groundwork, the system.
BSP was able to secure the support of the Asian
Development Bank for a pilot AVCF project with The chatbot will be a new, customer-
the goal of strengthening the interest and capacity
of banks to undertake value chain financing.
centric system that will provide two
Strong value chains will enable farmers and agri new channels—SMS and Facebook
microentrepreneurs to adopt modern agritech Messenger—for the public to lodge
and access high value markets, thereby increasing complaints against BSP-supervised
productivity and income potential.
financial institutions. This will
automate responses to complaints,
the processing of cases, and the
storage and analytics of data. It will
also improve the quality and timelines
of financial consumer complaints
handling and ensure a complete,
consistent, and accurate complaints
resolution database.

27
 “And with the BSP’s culture of credibility,
excellence, and integrity established by the
older generations, I have no doubt that together,
we can transcend whatever will come our way
and be the best that we can be as an institution.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Meeting with the BSP Employees Association, Inc.
March 28, 2019

28
More milestones
Preparing for printing MOU on transfer
of national ID of currency
The BSP is preparing for the production and printing production to
Tarlac
of blank Philippine Identification (PhilID) cards with
design elements and security features by the first
quarter of 2020. The PhilID, as mandated by the
The BSP and the Bases Conversion and
Philippine Identification Systems Act, will simplify
Development Authority signed a Memorandum
public and private transactions through a reliable and
of Understanding for the planned transfer of
nationally accepted proof of identity. This will enable
the BSP’s currency production to New Clark
unbanked Filipinos to have access to formal financial
City, Tarlac. The move is part of the BSP’s vision
services—a win for financial inclusion.
to establish a smart, green, and state-of-the art
production facility that will further enhance
the Bank’s ability to meet the country’s cash
requirements.

The 20-piso coin and Investing in green

enhanced 5-piso bonds
coin The BSP has invested US$150 million in open-
ended green bonds, recognizing the role of
The launch of the 20-piso and enhanced 5-piso coins
sustainable investing in reserve management. By
manifests the BSP’s responsiveness to the needs of
participating in the green bond fund launched
its primary stakeholder—the Filipino consumer. The
by the Bank for International Settlements, the
eventual conversion of the 20-piso banknote to coin
BSP has committed to support environmentally
starting 2020 is part of the BSP’s effort to judiciously
responsible finance and investment practices. In
manage production costs by ensuring that its most
addition, the BSP has also sought to be certified as
used currency is durable. The 5-piso coin, on the other
a green building in compliance with the Building
hand, was enhanced in response to public clamor for
for Ecologically Responsive Design and Excellence
easily distinguishable coins to be used in their daily
(BERDE) using its Green Building Rating System
transactions.
or GBRS.

29
 “And so—as BSP moves into the story
of our future, let me reiterate that
every thought, every word, every act
of Bangko Sentral is an opportunity
to make a difference for a better
quality of life for every Filipino.
We will be steadfast in this pursuit
and we will continue to reinvent
ourselves through fresh ideas,
calculated risks, and game-changing
reforms.”

BENJAMIN E. DIOKNO
Bankers’ Reception
July 26, 2019

30
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[Link]