It is unfortunate that we could not have hosted this meeting in Manila where we can personally meet and welcome you, but I am sure that this virtual conference will be just as engaging and productive. Behind the theme of this year’s meeting, which is aptly entitled “Internal Audit at the Forefront of Digital Innovation”, is a similar novel concept: Digital Darwinism.
It revolves around a simple rule: evolve or risk being irrelevant. In the last decade, we have witnessed how technology has dramatically advanced our day-to-day lives. We have also seen how the financial services industry has evolved to offer more customer-centric financial products, leveraging on emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, among others. The pandemic has further quickened this evolution.