Security Bank presents Philippine Economic Forum

MANILA, Philippines – Security Bank Corp. (SBC), recognized as one of the country’s most stable and profitable universal banks, held its much-awaited economic forum recently at the Main Ballroom of the Mandarin Hotel in Makati City. Close to 300 bank clients, industry and business leaders were in attendance to learn high-level market analysis and business insights from the impressive line-up of guest speakers.

The forum invited engaging speakers who shared their expert views on the topic, “Economic Policies, Directions and Priorities of the Aquino Administration”. Keynote speaker was BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr,, who gave a talk on “Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas: Key Developments, Challenges and Policy Directions”. Philippine Stock Exchange chairman Hans Sicat talked about “Opportunities in a Booking Equities Market”, while economic speaker Dr. Bernardo Villegas of the University of Asia and the Pacific presented “Philippine Economy Under PNoy”.

The senior management team of Security Bank led by its president and chief executive officer Alberto Villarosa, welcomed the clients and guests along with SBC executive vice president and head of Commercial and Retail Banking Segment Patricia May Siy and Eduardo Olbes, SBC executive vice president, and head of Corporate and Investment Banking Group.

In his welcome remarks, Villarosa emphasized the importance of providing its bank clients with a relevant source of market information, “We take very seriously the need for us to be even more relevant to our customers as we emerge from the challenges of the global financial crisis. During both periods of financial stress and optimism, we at Security Bank endeavour to fulfil our role as a valuable business partner to support our clients’ respective business initiatives.”

In his keynote message, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. reflected on several challenges that the country faces today. Among these are capital flow surges into emerging markets, including the Philippines. To deal with such flows, he said that the BSP uses a pragmatic approach which involves a combination of policies, in addition to its primary tool, the policy interest rate.

He further added that the BSP will soon roll out Phase 4 of the reform of the foreign exchange regulatory framework, which would focus on easing the rules on current account and capital outflows and streamlining procedures and documentary requirements.

In addition to these policy actions that the BSP continues to implement, however, Gov. Tetangco admonished the banking system to do more by helping channel these capital inflows as well as the excess liquidity in the domestic financial system into investments and productive activities such as those within the context of the public-private partnership framework.