NESTOR Espenilla Jr., central bank's deputy governor for supervision and examination, has been appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as the next head of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), replacing Amando Tetangco Jr.
Tetangco, who served a two six-year terms as BSP chief, will retire effective July 2.
Duterte's choice of Espenilla over more prominent candidates, BSP deputy governor for monetary stability sector Diwa Guinigundo and East West president Antonio Moncupa Jr. appeared to be a welcome move as it gets support from the country's banking sector and other stakeholders.
“We thank the President for his decision. The choice of an insider in the person of Deputy Governor Espenilla ensures the continuity of policy and thought process in the BSP. Espenilla is well respected in the banking community and highly regarded by other central banks and financial regulators,” the retiring BSP chief said in newspaper reports.
“[Espenilla] is also well supported by the BSP family. I am confident that with him at the helm, the BSP will continue to be a pillar of support to the economy, that should remain among the top performing economies in the world,” according to Tetangco.
“A very wise choice, after a thorough evaluation of the future needs of the country and of all the candidates,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III described Espenilla's appointment, which was also strongly supported by the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP).
“We are confident that his 35 years of experience will sustain implementation of sound macroeconomic policies for economic growth,” the BSP said in a statement.
The association welcomes this new chapter of the BSP towards a robust and more resilient economy, expressing optimism that Espenilla’s leadership, with the support of the banking industry will overcome inflationary pressures and other economic shocks.
It vows to remain a partner of the BSP to ensure that new BSP chief’s policy agenda will continue to improve and protect the welfare of the entire Philippine banking industry and stakeholders.
It sees Espenilla's expertise on banking and financial system supervision will continue the mandate set by the BSP, as it supports his commitment in promoting financial inclusion and competition in the financial system.
“We are looking forward to the rest of 2017 and the following years to come with our new BSP governor. The universal and commercial banks are confident that the Philippines will continue to remain as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia,” the BSP said.
Espenilla joined the central bank in 1981 and rose through the ranks until he was eventually appointed deputy governor in April 2005.
