BOARD OF DIRECTORS

   FR. SERAFIN F.PERALTA      

          CHAIRMAN

      EDITA S. LAURON

          VICE-CHAIRPERSON

 

AQUINO, AGAPITO A.

BOARD MEMBER

 

BALDOVINO, NORMANDIE

BOARD MEMBER

 

BARTE, CLAUDETH B.

BOARD MEMBER

 

 

CORNITO, JESUS G.

BOARD MEMBER

 

DE JESUS, ROMEO A.

BOARD MEMBER

 

 

DURAN, ANTHONY M.

BOARD MEMBER

 

GERON, RICO B.

BOARD MEMBER

 

LEONARDO, GARIBALDI O.

BOARD MEMBER

 

MASCARIÑA, ROBERTO C.

BOARD MEMBER

 

PASCUAL, FR. ANTON CT.

BOARD MEMBER

 

RAQUEPO, ALEXANDER B.

BOARD MEMBER

 

ROSINI, JUANITO P.

BOARD MEMBER

 

SALERA, BETTA SOCORRO

BOARD MEMBER

 

 

 

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Atty. SIMEON ASIA

SECRETARY

 

Fe M. Vidar

TREASURER

 

" I am pleased to join you in this Annual General Assemblycelebrating your 15 years of service to the cooperative sector. Let me congratulate you on this milestone.

My speech this morning is entitled Cooperative Banking: Raising the Bar.

As I stand before all of you, representatives from around 860-memberprimary cooperatives nationwide, as I understand, I am reminded of the unique ownership structure of cooperative bank. This unique structure immediately provides you the ability to tap into the large market of cooperatives and their members around the country.

In addition, your full understanding of the needs of your shareholder and the cooperative sector gives you strategic advantage in providing suitable financial services in this market. I am happy to note that you have successfully leveraged this unique ownership structure to carve up your niche in our increasingly competitive financial system.

Since starting operations in 1997, you continue to be instrumental in effectively addressing the financing needs of your member-cooperatives by directly contributing to their development and indirectly benefiting their individual members.

This business model has enabled you to raise financial intermediation within the cooperative sector and at the same time make sufficient profits. You have therefore remained fundamentally strong and stable.

You have a sufficient level of capital and your risk management systems are in place. You have a capable board and management who are intent in maintaining your bank's sound operations. Simply put, Metro South Cooperative Bank is doing very well.

Having said that, I wish to emphasize that this is not the time to be complacent on your laurels. I am sure you have noticed revolutionary changes on the way banks do their business. 

Today, financial institutions are driven to adopt smarter business models, design novel products, aggressively expand their client bases, pursue new markets, and pioneer innovative delivery mechanisms to increase accessibility of their services in their identified markets.

Innovation, efficiency and excellence are the keywords that banks speak of and try to achieve in their effort to be at par with progressive industry leaders. The challenge, then, for Metro South Cooperative Bank is to leverage on your strong position and well-defined mission, to take advantage of the many opportunities in this increasingly competitive environment.

This challenge is to raise the bar. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinasremains supportive of the cooperative banking sector by providing the enabling regulations for you to do your job even better.

We allow you to engage in a wider range of activities to widen your physical network and improve your efficiency through technology-based delivery channels. You are now at par with other types of banks in terms of services you offer, from foreign deposit accounts to equity investments in ATM systems. Qualified cooperative banks can compete side by side with other types of banks.

More recently, we have issued a set of circulars that can help you reach new and more markets in a responsive and sound and sustainable manner.

First among these is our regulation on the establishment of other banking offices, or OBOs, to give any qualified bank, including cooperative banks, the chance to set up physical offices in areas where it may not be economically feasible.

With Circular 694, issued October of last year, a bank can now establish an OBO in areas where it is allowed to establish brances. Through an OBO, you can market products, accept loan applications, facilitate account opening, perform customer care services and host ATMs.

If interested to implement microfinance programs, any bank may apply for authority to establish what we now call as micro-banking offices, or MBOs, through which the bank can offer a whole range of transactions and services to serve the needs of its clients, overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries; and other underserved customers.

Under Circular 694, MBOs may be authorized to accept small deposits or what we call micro-deposits and service withdrawals, disburse microfinance loans and collect payments; sell and marketmicroinsurance products; receive and pay out remittance transactions; act as cash-in and cash-out points for electronic money; receive utility payments ; pay out benefits from social institutions and government conditional cash transfer programs; as well as purchase foreign currency.

These micro-banking offices will not only allow you to increase the value of your services to your existing clients, but will also allow you to tap new and underserved markets.

As technology permeates every aspect of business, the speed, convenience and cost of financial transactions have greatly improved.

For qualified and capable cooperative banks, such as the Metro South Cooperative Bank, the electronic money and mobile bankingecosystem provides many more possibilities. Our recent Circular establishes the electronic mobile banking system which banks can use to transact with their clients using your mobile phones.

With this electronic framework in place, we expect to see banks becoming electronic money issuers, with enormous opportunities to create their own local agent network in partnership with establishments, such as drug stores and groceries, to reach out to the underbanked communities through your mobile phones.

Further building on these regulations, we also upgraded our anti-money laundering regulations through the issuance of Circular 706. This issuance can be potentially ground-breaking as it addresses a main obstacle in serving the unbanked yet, the bankable Filipinos.

With this issuance, banks can outsource ordinary customer identification by agents that are located in unbanked communities. It, therefore, addresses the limitations of existing physical reach of banks and lowers the cost of acquiring new customers.

I have detailed a host of opportunities that are available to Metro South Cooperative Bank. We emphasize, however, that these opportunities may be seized by banks that are committed to institutional strength and stability.

It is incumbent that Metro South Cooperative Bank remains committed to maintaining a strong capital position, institutionalizing adequate risk management systems, practicing good governance and professional management and keeping high standards of business ethics.

These frequently-mentioned principles are reinforced in the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008, where necessarily and without prejudice to the unique nature of cooperativism, the law stipulates that banking laws, rules and regulations take precedence.

Under authority of this law, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has issued Circular 682 to govern cooperative bank operations. We also recently issued a memorandum to banks, which is basically a gentle reminder on the need to comply with the Cooperative Code provisions on proportionate voting, based on the number of paid up shares and on the quorum requirements on the amendment of the Articles of Cooperation and By-laws.

Empowered by the new Cooperative Code, that puts strong cooperative banks on even playing field with other banks, coupled by our enabling policies and regulations, and regulatory environment, I am confident that Metro South Cooperative Bank will continue to flourish.

I commend your dedication in achieving your vision to become the leading cooperative bank in the country. I am counting on this dedication that you will continuously innovate and seize new opportunities and take you rightful place as one of the pillars of Philippine cooperative banking.

Above all, stay deeply committed to good governance, the Achilles heel of many banks that failed. I noticed that you are bound by the tenets of good governance in your motto - F-A-I-T-H, which are really built on the principles of fairness, accountability and transparency.

Continue along this path. Your Chairman, I noticed also mentioned certain changes that are being introduced into the cooperative banking system by your leaders, including those in Congress.

And the whole activity right now that is taking shape is an effort to help out those cooperative banks that are not as successful as you have been. So that strong cooperative banks, like Metro South Cooperative Bank can help out towards building a stronger cooperative banking system.

In all of these discussions, Metro South Cooperative Bank is always mentioned, not as the damsel in distress, but rather as a white knight. So, with this, I am confident that your leadership will take Metro South Cooperative Bank towards your objective of creating a truly strong cooperative banking system, with Metro South Cooperative Bank, as one of its key pillars.

Rest assured of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' commitment to provide the supportive environment to help you accomplish this mission. We will always be there. Consider us as your partners, as we work towards a shared goal of a stronger and most of all, inclusive banking system.

I will end with a quote that I came across recently: "It has been said that if you want to be incrementally better, be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better, be cooperative."

I would like to say that for Metro South Cooperative Bank and other cooperative banks, you can be equally competitive and cooperative and, thus, look forward to always being exponentially better. Thank you."