evolution of the financial sector, with the aim of positioning the financial sector, including islamic finance, not only to become a catalyst to the transformation process, but also having the flexibility to respond to the key trends that are emerging. in essence, we need to evolve a financial system that best serves malaysians in this new environment. as the global financial services industry going forward strives to regain thrust and confidence, the starting point in asia is to build on the solid foundations put in place during the decade following the asian financial crisis. asia is seeing the payoffs from the financial reforms, institutional development and the strengthening of the financial infrastructure. while financial markets have become more volatile, financial intermediation has not been interrupted. while our starting point is from a position of strength, we must nevertheless draw upon the lessons from the current crisis. the lessons from the crisis must not be lost. this crisis offers malaysia and other emerging markets an opportunity to steer the future path of development of the financial sector to a stronger and more sustainable path one which avoids the trappings of greed and reckless behaviour that have significantly set back the financial sector in many advanced economies. it would be foolish of us not to take heed of these lessons and leverage on the opportunity to leap forward on a more solid foundation. despite these developments, going forward, the trend for liberalization will continue as financial integration in the region will intensify. this will mean greater foreign participation in terms of new institutional presence, strategic alliances and greater participation in our financial markets. efforts to develop further our foreign exchange market will be intensified. our financial links will also need to extend beyond the region to facilitate economic links with other emerging economies. on the domestic front, financial services to smes need to evolve from transactional and lending - based business to a full - service, relationship - based business. the household sector, already an important segment being served by the industry, will see further transformation with the continuing evolution of multi - channel distributions with online channels becoming more popular and increased customer demands for product transparency and overall service levels. we expect to see a re - orientation of processes and incentives towards value over volume, further differentiation in the management of customer - relationships and an increasing focus on technology - driven transformations that are more aligned with business strategies. the outgrowth of these strategies will include an accelerated shift in product offerings towards more comprehensive end - to - end financial solutions and further changes in the traditional roles of physical branches and intermediaries, with greater use of more

charles i plosser : communicating a systematic monetary policy speech by mr charles i plosser, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of philadelphia, to the society of american business editors and writers fall conference, city university of new york ( cuny ) graduate school of journalism, new york, 10 october 2014. * * * the views expressed are my own and not necessarily those of the federal reserve system or the fomc. highlights • president plosser discusses how effective communications and a systematic, rulelike monetary policy lead to better economic outcomes. • president plosser believes the appropriate way to make policy systematic, or rulelike, is to base policy decisions on economic conditions. he thinks policymakers should describe the reaction function that determines how the current and future policy rates will be set depending on economic data. monetary policy should be data dependent, not date dependent. • president plosser also believes the fed should think of forward guidance as part of a systematic approach to decision - making and not an independent policy tool that attempts to bend expectations. as monetary policy becomes normalized, the fed has the opportunity to ensure the public understands that forward guidance is an integrated part of a systematic approach to policy. introduction thank you. as you may know, this is the centennial year for the federal reserve. on december 23, 1913, president woodrow wilson signed into law the act that created the federal reserve system, and on november 16, 1914, the 12 reserve banks officially opened their doors as independently chartered banks. oversight was assigned to a board of governors in washington, d. c. that decentralized structure is one of our great strengths, but it requires that i begin by reminding you that the views i express this morning are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the federal reserve system or my colleagues on the federal open market committee ( fomc ). since this is a professional society of business editors and writers, i thought i would discuss the benefits of clear communications as part of a systematic, rule - like approach to setting monetary policy. during the past eight years, i have spoken and written frequently about ways to improve the framework we use for making monetary policy decisions. in my view, the monetary policy framework is most effective when the central bank : • commits to a set of clearly articulated objectives that can be feasibly achieved by monetary policy ; • conducts monetary policy in a systematic or rule - like manner ; • communicates its policies and actions to the public in