•  Significant progress in reforming labour market policies – especially in the areas of pension schemes, early retirement and part-time work – has been achieved over the last ten years in some European countries, contributing to the significant rise in the euro area employment rate, accompanied by a decline in the aggregate unemployment rate from 10.6% in 1996 to 7.2% most recently. The latest number is the lowest on record since the early 1980s, but should not give rise to complacency. •  These encouraging developments show that past labour market reforms, immigration and wage moderation have helped to overcome some of the constraints on growth stemming from rigid and over-regulated labour markets. Despite this progress, we are still a long way from having exhausted the potential for further increases in participation rates and employment. The unemployment rate is still unacceptably high and the employment rates, especially among young, female and older workers, remain low by international standards. These features appear to be consistent with an “insider-outsider” characterisation of the European labour market, where structural impediments, triggered by the legal and regulatory environment, high taxes on labour and rigidities associated with wage regulations may prevent those groups “at the margins” from actively participating in the labour market. •  In addition, in those European countries and regions where competitiveness has been lost in the past or the unemployment rate remains too high, it is essential that wage increases do not fully exhaust productivity gains in order to provide incentives for firms to create additional jobs.

PPKM together with the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers will cooperate in the future to develop a series of high quality, advanced level financial market forums and seminars, thus creating a platform to expand network, develop expertise and to advance the Malaysian financial market community to another level of professional and technical excellence. Fourth, technology has become a crucial enabler in the financial industry as it continues to provide benefits by reducing financial transaction cost and enhancing trade execution efficiency. We need to embrace new technology, such as electronic platform. Technology also greatly facilitates market surveillance and transparency by offering real-time information. This is particularly critical in a fast moving market, where delay in information mean loss of opportunities for banks, and delay in taking action to stabilise market. The need for real-time information in a fast moving market is urgent. For instance, trades that are still being concluded through traditional voice broking and conversational dealing screens are already obsolete in developed markets. Technological advancement requires behavioral change As we move forward, financial market participants who rely on the traditional ways for dealing and communicating, they must relook at how they strategize their business to remain relevant in this era of rapid technological innovation. If we fail to change, the consequence is obvious, loss of business and demise of your business. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Fifth is the trend towards further regional integration. With the implementation on ASEAN Banking Integration Framework, regional markets will be more integrated.