as the starting point for all capital adequacy regulations is the accounting values. i don't have a clear view of what needs to be done here, but when assets that have been booked at amortised cost have to be sold quickly at a large loss, it can affect the viability of the bank and, ultimately, financial stability, and therefore it is a problem. global rules are important for sweden i would also like to take this opportunity to emphasise the complexity and interdependence of the global financial system. banks are exposed to many risks that can be difficult to both understand and monitor. banks in most countries are also dependent on other banks and other financial institutions. many of these are located in other countries and are therefore supervised in those countries. if problems arise, they spread faster today and to more actors than they did 30 years ago. we saw this clearly in march. the concern created by the banking problems in the united states, which initially concerned a bank smaller than the major swedish banks, caused many international investors to become alarmed and wonder which bank in the world could be next in line. although many of the problems with which credit suisse struggled were not new, uncertainty in the financial markets led to an acute loss of confidence in the bank. this proved devastating for the bank and forced the swiss authorities to act. my conclusion is that it is important 11 for all countries to promote global regulation. swedish financial stability also depends to a large extent on sufficiently strict regulations in other countries. we are all dependent on this. this list of current global regulatory issues is by no means exhaustive. there are other issues that will come up in the debate. for example, the us reports on the events in march point to the effects of insufficient supervision. 13 this raises questions about the mandate and ability of supervisors to actually step in and change banks'decisions. however, it is unclear how this should be done in practice and how far such a mandate should extend. still, some conclusions are already evident today : banks and other financial actors are central to the economy and contribute to better welfare. this is important. at the same time, the banks'activities entail risks. if these problems materialise, they can have major contagion effects and negative external effect on the economy. therefore, legislators and authorities need to try to change the current regulations. the aim should be to ensure that banks have sufficient buffers to prevent problems from arising. the aim should also be to

their perspectives will be useful in setting the tone for our further discussions on how to better prepare ourselves for the more intensified volatility of capital flows, which, i believe, have been rooted to our current economic environment. ladies and gentlemen, following our discussions on the theme, we will have dr. perry warjiyo and mr. richard murray, our executive directors from the imf to lead our discussions this afternoon on recent developments in global and regional economies with a view to identifying challenges ahead of us. i hope that we could learn a great deal from one another in this traditional session, particularly on how we should prepare ourselves for those potential risks in order to maintain internal as well as regional economic stability. in addition, i believe that the meeting of seacen board of governors, tomorrow, will continue to play an important role in providing guidelines for future works and activities of seacen for the years to come. our guidelines will be important for the seacen centre to pursue its mission and become “ a premier regional training centre for central banks in the asia - pacific region ” according to its vision. ladies and gentlemen, this year is a very auspicious year for seacen over its 40 year - history as it marks the 25th year of the establishment of the seacen centre. we are, therefore, very honored and privileged to host the celebration of the silver anniversary of the seacen centre, here again in bangkok, where the agreement to establish the centre was signed back in 25 years ago. over these past two decades, the seacen centre has become increasingly important in promoting better understanding of the financial, monetary, banking and economic development matters. its role does not benefit only the sixteen member central banks but also extends to several other countries throughout asia and pacific region. i would like to take this opportunity, therefore, to congratulate the seacen centre for its work in helping bind together our community of central banks in the region. and, i would like to invite all of you to tomorrow ’ s dinner to commemorate its achievements in the past quarter of a century together. ladies and gentlemen, may i take this opportunity to wish all of you a successful and fruitful deliberation, and an enjoyable stay in thailand. thank you.