Ravi Menon: Stepping up the Chongqing-Singapore connection Keynote address by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Singapore-China (Chongqing) Financial Conference, Singapore, 4 September 2017. * * * Vice Mayor Liu Guiping, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. More than 2000 years ago, the Silk Road connected, by land and sea, the major economies of the time, enriching the lives of many people along its routes. And now 2000 years later, Chongqing, one of China’s “super-cities”, is part of the effort to revive this great heritage. Chongqing is strategically placed. It is a pivotal node on the One Belt, One Road, connecting the growing economies of South and Southeast Asia with the rest of China It is also an important city along the Yangtze River Economic Belt and a key player in the overall development of the Western Region. In short, Chongqing is a cornerstone of regional connectivity. Singapore is proud to be a partner to Chongqing in this historic project, through the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative, or CCI. And so, I am happy today to welcome you to the second Singapore-China (Chongqing) Financial Conference, to take stock of the progress we have made together and to set new goals for the future. China and Singapore – a vibrant economic relationship The backdrop to CCI is, of course, the larger China-Singapore economic relationship – one of the strongest in Asia. China is Singapore’s largest trading partner. Singapore is China’s fourth largest trading partner in ASEAN.

About 12% of the Western Region’s GDP in 2016 was contributed by agriculture, this is no small number. When natural catastrophes occur, crops, homes and public infrastructure are destroyed or damaged. Financial markets can play an important role in mitigating such risks. An innovative example of this is an orange index product developed by the Changshou District Government here in Chongqing just four months ago. This product compensates farmers if the price of the blood orange index is lower than the price stated in the sales contract. In Singapore too, we are developing mechanisms to assess, manage, and transfer disaster risks. Allow me to share one example which utilises state-of-the-art data aggregation. Asia Risk Transfer Solutions (ARTS), a Singapore start up, has developed a risk analytics platform for pricing and managing index based insurance products. ARTS’ crop platform in India has reduced the time taken for underwriters to calculate agriculture insurance premiums, from days to a matter of hours. 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  ARTS is now exploring a similar pilot in China, working with local government and private agencies, as well as local and international insurers. Strengthening financial capabilities and mutual learning Fourth, there is scope for Chongqing and Singapore to expand on financial training cooperation and learn from one another through “people to people connectivity”. Let me highlight two encouraging examples of ongoing training cooperation under the CCI. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission is working with the Singapore College of Insurance to conduct training to about 300 management personnel of Chongqing insurers.