BSP awards 6 outstanding partners from Visayas

SIX outstanding partner institutions from the Visayas regions were acknowledged by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in a ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023 at the Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort.

The awardees were Land Bank of the Philippines–Roxas City, Metrobank Cebu, Bohol Bankers Association Inc., Bankers Association Iloilo Inc., Junior Financial Executives (JFINEX) of the Cebu Institute of Technology-University and Iloilo Supermart Inc.

In a speech, BSP Gov. Felipe Medalla expressed his gratitude to the outstanding stakeholders for their contributions and support to the central bank’s programs and goals for price stability, financial stability, and safe, secure and efficient payment and settlement system.

“We hope that you will remain to be the BSP’s partners in the years to come,” Medalla said.

Meanwhile, central bank’s Deputy Gov. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, chairperson of the Committee on Outstanding BSP Stakeholders, said aside from the three pillars as the criteria in the selection process of choosing the awardees, the BSP has also taken into consideration the institution and industry that helped achieve their goals for financial education and those who have significant impact during the pandemic.

Academe

Allan Delantar, advisor of JFINEX of the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) said the recognition was unexpected; however, they were grateful of the award.

JFINEX of CIT-U was the lone awardee from the academe that was acknowledged by the BSP due to its intensive financial literacy program for banking and finance management students.

Delantar said the organization has partnered with the BSP since 2013 to provide seminars and orientation, teaching students the basics of banking and how to manage their finances.

“BSP conducts at least two to three seminars per semester and financial literacy is very important and to be honest, I required my students to open an account from the bank to practice all the intersections of banking transactions,” Delantar said.

He observed the poor state of banking and financial education in the society, particularly among the youth.

Hence, the objective of the seminars and training was to prepare their students to be smart with their finances once they leave the institution.

Loren Joyce Donayre, JFINEX CIT-U president, said their partnership with BSP has created a series of webinars which help CIT-U students to learn banking and manage their finances.