Philippines, German central banks partner on capacity-building

MANILA, Philippines — The central banks of the Philippines and Germany have formalized their partnership on capacity-building through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. and Deutsche Bundesbank executive board member Burkhard Balz signed the MOU on technical cooperation last Jan. 22.

Deutsche Bundesbank is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany.

“For many years now, the Bundesbank has been the BSP’s strategic partner and has been supporting the BSP’s learning and development requirements through collaboration on technical programs, in-person seminars, online courses, and study visits on benchmarking,” Remolona said.

“These have greatly contributed to productivity enhancements. I am delighted we now have this MOU,” the BSP chief said.

Meanwhile, Balz emphasized the already existing good and trusting cooperation between the Deutsche Bundesbank and the BSP and is looking forward to the enhancement of cooperation and bilateral projects.

Under the MOU, Germany’s central bank would carry out training services, consultation, and advisory assistance for BSP personnel.

Deutsche Bundesbank experts have been conducting in-person or virtual capacity-building programs for BSP personnel since 2004.

Recent programs include the in-person training on “Credit Assessment and Analysis in the Central Bank’s Lending Operations” at the BSP head office in Manila in May and the online training on “Payment and Securities Settlement Systems” in October last year.