FINANCE Secretary and former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno expressed confidence that his successor in Central Bank will further ramp up digital payments and financial inclusion in the country.
In his first speech as finance chief at the BSP’s 29th anniversary and turnover ceremony, Diokno said he is optimistic that the game-changing reforms he implemented under his term will be sustained under the leadership of new BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla.
Even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Diokno said the BSP ensured the continuity of much-needed financial services and provided financial relief and incentivized lending to the public, among others.
Apart from this, he said the BSP also pursued the passage of several bills, such as the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Act and the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act to cushion the pandemic’s impact on different sectors and safeguard consumers from fraudulent schemes. Diokno also cited the BSP’s hand in the approval of the Gold Law, the Philippine Identification System Act, the Islamic Banking Law and the amendments to the BSP charter prior to 2020.
“The pandemic has also created exceptional opportunities to boost digital payments and financial inclusion in the country. I am confident that under Medalla, the BSP’s ‘Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap,’ will gain more headway,” Diokno was quoted as saying in a copy of his speech that was sent to the media.
Under the roadmap, the BSP aims to digitalize at least half of financial transactions in the country and onboard at least 70 percent of Filipino adults into the formal financial system by 2023.
In February this year, Diokno said monetary authorities estimate that from 2020 until the third quarter of 2021, about 20 million unbanked Filipino adults have been on-boarded in the formal financial system through the opening of basic deposit accounts and active e-money accounts. This brought the total banked adult Filipinos to 41 million or about 53 percent of the total adult population in the country, he added.
Meanwhile, Diokno said that the pandemic also paved the way for the digitalization of various BSP products and services, including the electronic submission of bids and the conduct of online procurement activities.
Under his watch, Diokno said the BSP embarked on its version of “Build, Build, Build” as they expanded existing facilities and built new structures.
“We will soon have the new security offices and command operation center, the BSP hub where the Metropolitan Museum used to be, the office and commercial building with parking at the PICC [Philippine International Convention Center], along with a host of other infrastructure improvements in our regional offices and branches,” he said. “Last, but not the least, we will have a new BSP complex rising on a 31.3-hectare development in New Clark City.”
He added they also pursued the “Electronic Security Modernization” project to enhance BSP security operations and unify all security systems in all BSP regional offices and branches through a centralized command operations center.
“That said, I am confident that with the leadership of your new team captain—Governor Medalla—and the Monetary Board, you will continue to deliver game-changing reforms and bring the BSP even closer to the Filipino people,” he said.