Már Guðmundsson: Monetary policy at a crossroads Speech by Mr Már Guðmundsson, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, at the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce Monetary Policy meeting, Reykjavík, 5 November 2015. *  *  *  Honoured chairman, ladies and gentlemen: The Iceland Chamber of Commerce has a decades-long tradition of holding a meeting like this one on economic developments and prospects and monetary policy. The meeting is held following the publication of the Central Bank’s autumn forecast and, in latter years, the Monetary Policy Committee’s interest rate decision. The title of my talk today is Monetary policy at a crossroads. These crossroads are, first, the disappearance of the slack in the economy and the development of a positive output gap, with the result that the task of monetary policy is no longer to stimulate GDP growth to the extent that the inflation target allows but to ensure that the tension in the economy does not cause overheating, which would jeopardise economic stability. The second crossroads is that, in recent months, the labour market situation has become much more serious than would have been anticipated given the state of the economy. The third lies in the unusual level of uncertainty about the inflation outlook, stemming from the interplay between domestic inflationary pressures and the global tendency towards deflation. And fourth is the recent rapid progress in solving the of the balance of payments problem Iceland has faced since the financial crisis struck and the approaching liberalisation of capital controls.

Norman T L Chan: Bond Connect – enhancing Hong Kong as an international financial centre Remarks by Mr Norman T L Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Bond Connect Launch Ceremony, Hong Kong, 3 July 2017. * * * The Honourable Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Deputy Director Huang Liuquan, Deputy Director Qiu Hong, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng, Mr CK Chow, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 1. Good Morning. 2. I am very pleased to join you today for the launch of Bond Connect. Bond Connect marks another milestone of mutual access of capital markets between the Mainland and Hong Kong, following the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect. It is also another important measure of the Central Government to support Hong Kong’s development as an international financial centre. 3. A key function of Hong Kong as an international financial centre is financial intermediation, providing efficient and safe conduits for fund flows. The establishment and smooth operation of these conduits shall be underpinned by suitable and sound financial infrastructures. Over the years, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has endeavoured to build our financial infrastructures, from the Real Time Gross Settlement system to the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) for debt securities settlement, which have laid a solid foundation for Hong Kong’s development as an international financial centre. 4. Bond Connect is a new financial infrastructure established through the connection between HKMA’s CMU and the relevant central securities depositories (CSDs) on the Mainland.