October 3, 2022
(Pleasantries)
Thank you for inviting me to speak in this momentous event.
First, I would like to congratulate the RCBC on its 62nd anniversary. Since its establishment in 1960, the RCBC has been a reliable partner in the Philippine government’s drive for digitalization and financial inclusion in the banking sector.
When I served as Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, I made it my mission to digitize at least half of all retail payments and onboard 70 percent of Filipino adults to the formal financial system by 2023.
Your groundbreaking innovations bring us closer to this goal, bringing quality financial services and their rippling benefits to many unbanked and underserved sectors.
Beyond bringing more Filipinos into the fold, your latest projects show that the future of banking requires human-centric and empathy-driven design. I am very pleased to see the RCBC make significant headway in this area.
Digital banking solutions and financial literacy initiatives such as the RCBC Digital, ATM Go, and DiskarTech leapfrog the Philippine banking system forward into the 21st century.
And now with the Moneybela: Barangayan Banking, the RCBC has reached another milestone for the Filipino people.
By offering a physical-digital blended banking experience to far-flung communities via sustainable e-tricycles, the RCBC Moneybela is the Philippines’ first mobile human-assisted remote banking service.
Now, services such as basic deposit account creation, bills payment, e-load, cash in or cashout, microinsurance, or telemedicine purchase can be done in previously unreached communities.
This pioneering innovation complements the Philippine government’s thrust for digital transformation and aligns it with our Sustainable Development Goals, with financial inclusion being a key enabler in achieving equality and empowerment, supporting innovation, and promoting economic growth through savings mobilization for investment and consumption.
Through digitalization, financial inclusion initiatives can empower individuals, enterprises, and communities to unlock their fullest potential, simply by tapping into a wider range of welfare-enhancing financial services.
Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration, we will strengthen the pillars of support for the digital economy.
Our policies and programs will put greater emphasis on pursuing digitalization to reinvent industries, enhance the delivery of public services, and create many employment and investment opportunities.
All these will allow us to bounce back stronger from the pandemic and ensure the long-term recovery of our economy.
We will rely heavily on digital tools to augment financial inclusion initiatives. We will quicken the rollout of the Philippine Identification System to bring us closer to the goal of achieving e-governance and widen access to financial products and services among our people.
For this, we will pursue a more inclusive and broad-based capital market through the power of fintech.
I look forward to closely working with all of you as we build a more sustainable, inclusive, and digitally-enabled future.
Thank you.
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