Atty. Arifa A. Ala, a certified public accountant (CPA) and lawyer, is a career central banker who has extensive experience and technical expertise in banking supervision and regulation. She has worked in different departments in the Financial Supervision Sector to supervise banks and other financial institutions.

Atty. Ala has made significant contributions to the development and enhancement of policies that made significant impact on the conduct of BSP’s supervisory function and processes. She has also played a vital role in the development of programs aimed at strengthening rural and cooperative banks.

As the BSP’s point person for Islamic banking and finance, she chairs the Inter-agency Working Group on Islamic Banking and Finance, which aims to establish a sound Islamic banking system in the Philippines that can operate alongside the conventional banking system. She also sits in the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Board as the Alternate Representative of the Governor of the BSP.

Atty. Ala plays an important role in mentoring banking supervisors. She chaired the committees that developed the courses on Problem Bank Resolution and Supervisory Writing under the BSP’s Professional Enhancement Program for Supervisors.

Atty. Ala earned her BSBA-Accounting degree from the Mindanao State University, her master’s degree in Business Administration from the Ateneo de Manila University, her Law degree from the San Beda College, Manila, and her Master’s degree in Public Management from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Harvard Kennedy School.