This paper looks at how competition and efficiency in the financial services sector, particularly the banking and insurance industries, have been affected by the regulatory regime and market structure. It gives an overview of how financial policy in the Philippines evolved over time. In particular, it seeks to show the interaction between regulation and competition through a description of the principal statutory regulations that affect the banking and insurance industries to date. It also discusses the changes in the financial policy by looking at their impact on the structure of the financial system. The monitoring of structural change in the financial system is done through the use of indicators of changes in competitive structure and indicators of gains in competitive efficiency implicit in financial market performance. The financial sector regulations and their impact on market structure are assessed in the context of competition policy elements and principles that have been identified in the literature. Some emerging competition policy issues that need to be analyzed further are also presented.
