*  *  *  Mr. Michael Zink, Head of ASEAN and Singapore Citi Country Officer; Mr. Sanjiv Vohra, Citi Country Officer for the Philippines; Secretary Imelda Nicolas, Chairperson, Commission on Filipino Overseas; Ms. Brandee McHale, Chief Operating Officer, Citi Foundation; Mr. David Pilling, Financial Times Asia Editor; Ms. Kathy Hurley, Executive Vice President, Education Alliances, Pearson Foundation; distinguished resource persons; experts and practitioners in financial education; friends who have traveled from other countries; my colleagues in the BSP; ladies and gentlemen, good morning everyone!
Other governments likewise found that problems in the United States spilled over to their financial systems and economies. To cite just one example, it is well known now that the rapid growth of securitization of residential mortgages in the United States was a prominent factor driving up home lending and driving down lending standards.