Felipe Medalla is the New BSP Governor
Diokno says he’s confident Medalla will continue the game-changing reforms he enact under his leadership of the central bank.
Former central bank Monetary Board Member Felipe M. Medalla officially takes over as the chief of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Medalla will serve the remaining term of his predecessor Benjamin Diokno who is now the Secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF).
Armed with decades of economic background, Diokno says he’s confident Medalla will continue the game-changing reforms he enact under his leadership of the central bank—this includes the BSP’s rapid shift to digitalization and other measures that kept it ‘agile and innovative’ amid the pandemic-induced crisis as well as other challenges to the Philippine financial system.
“There are many more improvements in store for us and for the Filipino people. You and I have so much to offer in the service of our country regardless of what hat we wear… I am confident that with the leadership of your new team captain –Governor Medalla– and the Monetary Board, you will continue to deliver game-changing reforms and bring the BSP even closer to the Filipino people.”
Benjamin Diokno, Former BSP Governor and the current DOF chief
Felipe Medalla has a Ph.D. in Economics. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Commerce (Economics-Accounting) degrees from De La Salle University (cum laude), Master of Arts in Economics from UP, and Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Before being part of the Monetary Board, Medalla was an educator for more than four decades and served as Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Economics. He was also a former vice president for Planning and Finance of the UP System. Moreover, Medalla was also Socio-Economic Planning Secretary and Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority from 1998 to 2001, and a member of the Presidential Task Force on Tax and Tariff Reforms formed in 1994.
Aside from his governmental services, he was also a former president of the Philippine Economic Society and chairman of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, a non-government organization (NGO) primarily engaged in public advocacy for fiscal reforms and market-friendly government policies.
Prior to his official take over of the central bank, Medalla already gave a few takes on the current and the future stand of the BSP regarding digital banking and cryptocurrencies.
Last Month, Medalla expressed that the central bank will not open the registrations for digital banks and applicants may still wait for 2 to 3 years noting that the BSP still needs to improve its capacity to regulate these kinds of lenders. (Read more: BSP Unlikely to Approve More Digital Banks in Near Future –Incoming BSP Governor)
Further, the next governor of the BSP also expressed recently that he is not keen on regulating cryptocurrency and dismissed it as based on the “greater fool theory.” (Read more: Incoming BSP Governor Dismisses Crypto, Not Keen in Regulating)
This article is published on BitPinas: Felipe Medalla is the New BSP Governor
Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.
