The new techniques employed could lead to a lower cost of capital. In addition the market and its capabilities began to highlight the ineffectiveness of national barriers, and restrictive practices. It gave governments the courage to dismantle restrictions and barriers despite protest from those who, in a series of big bangs, lost their franchises. The examples of the international Swiss Franc - and Sterling - debt markets highlight this. In each case the authorities  2  Glenn Hoggarth and Victoria Sapporta “Costs of Banking System Instability: Some Empirical Evidence”. Bank of England Financial Stability Review (June, 2001). 2  BIS Review 5/2004  in the 1970’s imposed flow controls on new bond issues through queues. But this could be bypassed. As derivatives and swaps developed, so Swiss Franc liabilities could be created by borrowing $ on an unrestricted basis and swapping them outside the jurisdiction of the Swiss authorities into Swiss Francs. So this caused a gradual rethink, as the national grip of the authorities had ceased to be effective. 6. Consequences of technological advance  While liberalisation was an important trigger, technological advance also played a vital role. We may not understand its full impact yet: just as it took us time to exploit fully the benefits of the printing press, electricity, and the motor car. But the advance and speed of communication with its erosion of geographical and national barriers spawned the development of often derivatised financial instruments and risk transfer techniques. The concepts involved in this risk transfer may not be new.

Singapore’s requirements are consistent with international standards, namely those of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). MANAGE TECHNOLOGY AND CYBER RISKS Another risk that MAS has sought to address early on is technology and cyber related risk. MAS is one of the earliest regulators to impose on digital asset players the same cyber hygiene standards and technology risk management principles that is expected of other financial institutions. But technology and cyber risks are continually evolving, for example, coding bugs in smart contracts and compromise of digital token wallets or their encryption keys. MAS is reviewing measures to manage these and other technology and cyber risks, including further requirements to protect customers’ digital assets and uplift system availability. These steps are in line with what other jurisdictions are considering, including in the EU and Japan. SAFEGUARD AGAINST HARM TO RETAIL INVESTORS MAS has since 2017 been reiterating the risks of trading in cryptocurrencies. Prices of cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, driven largely by speculation rather than any underlying economic fundamentals. It is very risky for the public to put their monies in such cryptocurrencies, as the perceived valuation of these cryptocurrencies could plummet rapidly when sentiments shift. We have seen this happen repeatedly. MAS has issued numerous advisories warning consumers that they could potentially lose all the monies they put into cryptocurrencies. Just take for example Luna, the sister token of the so-called stablecoin TerraUSD. Luna was, at one point, worth over $ but tumbled to zero. MAS has taken early decisive steps to mitigate consumer harm.