##ulatory note for delivering economic growth in thailand. the bank of thailand would therefore like to thank the banking community for its steadfast adherence to the reform efforts, for its cooperation in strengthening our financial sector and for its support to the recovery of the thai economy. even though i was a commercial banker for over 20 years of my career and fully share and understand the challenges facing this profession, i would not be able to witness the recovery and resilience of our banking system today if not for your remarkable efforts and hard work. let me conclude by thanking the management of the “ banker ” magazine for honoring me with this award and all of my colleagues at the bot for their untiring support. the award is a great encouragement for me to continue dedicating myself to the cause of my work. finally, let me leave you with a quote that has always been close to my heart. these were the words of one of my mentor, dr. puey ungphakorn, one of the finest governors we ’ ve ever had, who once said that : “ if one is not concern about holding on to one ’ s position, then one can always make the right decisions. ” so you can rest assured that i will continue to do what is right and in the best interest of our country.

yannis stournaras : prospects of the greek economy and the role of supervisors in regulating the banking system speech by mr yannis stournaras, governor of the bank of greece, at the international forum of independent audit regulators ( ifiar ) inspection workshop, athens, 8 february 2017. * * * ladies and gentlemen, i am deeply honoured to be here today and have the opportunity to share with you my thoughts on the impact of ongoing developments in the greek economy in general and the domestic banking sector in particular. before i move on, please allow me to highlight the importance of financial stability as a necessary condition for achieving the goals of prosperity and sustainable growth ; these are common goals between market participants and central bankers. this precondition becomes really important, as our macro - prudential environment becomes stricter with the passing of each year. regardless of any single initiative or project, the general macroeconomic framework and key financial stability conditions are absolutely necessary in order to achieve overall positive performance. these simple facts have become abundantly clear over the past few weeks in greece, as we all look forward to reaching an agreement between the greek government and the institutions as soon as possible and bringing the second review of the current economic adjustment programme to a successful conclusion. i will briefly outline some of the most significant developments that have been made in the domestic economy. these developments were accompanied by positive changes in the greek banking sector and, in particular, by a series of ongoing initiatives to achieve higher asset quality. in this context, it is worth adding some thoughts to the ongoing discussion between banks and supervisors, in terms of the medium - term impact of ifrs 9 implementation. finally, a few remarks about cooperation between banking and audit regulation as well as the issue of mandatory auditor rotation are quite relevant for our discussion. following a deep and prolonged recession, greece is currently on the road to recovery. the rebound of economic activity in the second and third quarters of 2016 supports an expectation of positive growth rate for the year as a whole, for the first time since 2014, and much stronger growth in 2017. as you are aware, the economic adjustment programmes that have been implemented in greece since 2010 aimed to address the large twin deficits ( i. e. fiscal and current account ) and structural weaknesses from which the economy had suffered for decades. so far there have been remarkable achievements : unprecedented fiscal consolidation : over the period 2013 – 16, the primary deficit was eliminated and, for the first time since 2001, substantial