Long-term relationships with customers are being replaced by more transient transactions with counterparties. •  Raghuram Rajan observes how increasing product complexity and reliance on technology has created a detachment from the customer. •  It ultimately leads to a reductionist view of finance where “money is the measure of all worth”, a state that is hardly conducive for ethical conduct. 3  Second, compensation structures tend to over-emphasise profits as performance measures. Excessive focus on sales targets and commissions has incentivised a “trading mentality” which is often associated with too much risk taking or scant regard for client interests or the sustainability of relationships. Third, and more fundamentally, departures from ethical conduct are too easily tolerated as the norm. 2  Mark Carney, “The Future of Financial Regulation”, MAS Lecture, Singapore, 2014. 3  Raghuram Rajan, “Where Money is the Measure of All Worth” in Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, 2010. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  •  In a global survey of financial sector executives by the Economist Intelligence Unit, more than half the respondents felt that their career progression would be difficult without being “flexible on ethical standards”. •  If you look at the email and chat room messages between traders involved in the rigging of financial benchmarks, they betray a lack of any sense of guilt or wrongdoing. •  In fact, traders were congratulating and complimenting each other on their manipulation.

Benefits of foreign direct investment are manifold ranging from efficiency gains brought about by new technologies to the introduction of innovative products and management techniques. Further, more advanced research and development facilities and adoption of best practices from more matured financial markets will contribute to the transfer of skills and knowledge, adoption of sound risk management culture, technology and ideas in the domestic financial system. Another consideration in the liberalisation process is that of promoting financial inclusion, where all segments of society will have access to adequate financial services. The wide branch network of domestic banking institutions has ensured that non-urban areas have access to banking services, thereby eliminating the use of informal financial services. Domestic banking institutions with large presence in the non-urban areas, some as high as 20% of total branches, have succeeded in achieving sustainable performance while meeting this objective. Locally incorporated foreign banks are however located mainly in major cities and serve only certain segments of the banking public. A wider dispersion of branches of locally-incorporated foreign banks across the country would contribute towards achieving greater financial inclusion. For further expansion outside major cities to be a commercially viable proposition, it is recognised that the attainment of critical mass is essential. In this  6  BIS Review 55/2006  regard, in addition to the flexibility accorded to establish up to four new branches, consideration will be given to allow for greater presence in the non-urban areas and to serve the segments of the economy which are currently underserved.