To our banking sector in general and savings banks in particular, remittances averaging $ billion a month from our 8 million overseas Filipinos represent tremendous opportunities. As of Sept 2006, for instance, the country’s 85 thrift banks had total deposits of roughly $ billion, up 19.8% from the year ago level. This is about 15% of consolidated deposits of the banking sector.
However, while many firms should reassess and upgrade their risk management procedures, and supervisors should improve their procedures as well, I do not believe that the need for a radical change in our framework for the supervision of internationally active financial firms has been demonstrated. The paradigm of supervision itself is, of necessity, continuously adjusted to the rapidly changing, technologically driven financial system.