The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) advocates the mainstreaming of sustainable finance as part of broader efforts to promote a resilient, inclusive, and low-carbon economy.
“The BSP and financial institutions play a crucial part in mobilizing funds to finance green and sustainable projects, and at the same time, in safeguarding financial stability from shocks coming from climate and other environment-related factors,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said during the recent Climate Defenders meeting organized by the British Embassy.
Governor Diokno highlighted the BSP’s relevant initiatives, which included the adoption of the Sustainable Central Banking Program as one of its strategic priorities and the issuance of the Sustainable Finance Framework in April 2020.
The BSP has also strengthened governance on treasury activities and streamlined processes to allow for more bond issuances of BSP-supervised financial institutions and contribute to the growth of capital markets.
The BSP Governor said more than USD 1.0 billion and PHP 85.4 billion worth of green, social, and sustainability bonds have already issued by “first mover” banks since 2017.
“We expect more banks to follow suit as enabling regulations had been laid down complemented by continued capacity-building activities for the industry,” he added.
“All these initiatives will be more meaningful and effective as we strengthen collaboration with local financial sector regulators, key government agencies through the Green Force, and with our counterpart foreign regulators and supervisors at the Network for Greening the Financial System, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Executives’ Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP) and Alliance for Financial Inclusion,” Governor Diokno concluded.
Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)