Industrialization is the main key to sustainable financial growth, according to the chief executive of a member-owned international cooperative, known as Swift.
Alan Raes, who heads Swift Asia and the Pacific and emerging markets East Asia, elaborated at a news briefing on Thursday the Philippines reported 10 million financial transactions in 2015 compared to only 9 million the previous year, representing growth of fifteen percent. This was equivalent to 45 thousand transactions per day.
Swift has to do with that global network for sending and receiving financial transactions securely and reliably and stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.
“[We’re] making sure that whenever a transaction [ensues] it is reliably, safely delivered to the other recipient on the other side of the world,” he said.
Raes said emerging countries like the Philippines drive several industries to invest in the country, but this would not be possible without manageable and proper infrastructure.
“Any country who wants to enjoy this kind of growth rate really needs to invest in building infrastructures. I’m not talking about just one, when I say infrastructures I’m talking about all infrastructures, I’m talking about roads, I’m talking about harbors, airport, trains. That will support and help accelerate the rate of growth,” he said.
The chief executive also emphasized that in order to strengthen ties within Asean communities, members are able to utilize a congruent financial system.
“We are very much convinced that the regionalization of the Asean countries will not go through without harmonization of payment currencies,” he added.
Last year, the Philippines had the highest forecast growth among the original Asean-5 countries.
Against a background of possible punitive sanctions resulting from the largest money-laundering scandal to hit the country, Raes reiterated the Swift network has never been compromised.
He said Swift’s systems are up to date and that they are aware of “what happens every single time in the world.”
The money-laundering scam, where $81 million from the Bank of Bangladesh account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was sent to the Philippines by alleged hackers, allegedly involved several officials from one local lender and three casinos in the country.
“It is and will always remain to be the responsibility of banks because they’re primarily part of the chain,” Raes said.
Swift previously partnered with the Bank of the Philippine Islands and looks to partner with other local financial
institutions.
Formal arrangements have yet to be made. The company handles four percent of all the financial transaction in the world.