s competitiveness. let me give you an overview of our priority. 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches first and foremost is ensuring the robustness and resilience of our financial system. over the years, hong kong has implemented robust regulatory regimes and built buffers that ensure the safety and soundness of our monetary, banking and the broader financial systems. we have stood the tests of multiple financial crises. yet, episodes of turmoil in the banking and non - bank sectors elsewhere keep reminding us that there are always known or unknown risks out there. meanwhile, heightened cyber security threats, escalating geopolitical tensions, and even public health concerns are posing new challenges to financial stability and security. to deal with these challenges, we stay vigilant in our day - to - day supervision of financial institutions and monitoring of market activities. we constantly review and update our regulatory regimes to ensure that they remain fit for purpose with the evolving landscape. we maintain close collaboration with regulators in other jurisdictions to contain cross - border financial risks. we also work with the financial sector to get prepared for different shock scenarios that may impact financial stability. a safe and secure financial system enables us to pursue our developmental agenda that keeps hong kong ahead. we need to look for growth opportunities by expanding the breadth and coverage of our financial markets. hong kong's strength is rather broad - based, but there are new grounds to break. our recent initiative to develop the gold and commodities storage and trading markets is just one of such examples. on coverage, we are proactively reaching out to emerging markets including asean countries, the gulf region and other belt and road countries. but equally important is to keep enhancing the value proposition of the sectors where hong kong has a competitive edge. this requires constant reforms and upgrades. take the equity market for example. recent reforms in the listing regime have resulted in a much more competitive platform to support fund raising by companies from the innovation and technology sectors. on banking services, we have been partnering with the banking sector to leverage technology to raise banks'efficiency, support smes, promote financial inclusion, and enhance user experience. on asset and wealth management, we create an enabling environment for the sector by constantly refining regulatory requirements and, where appropriate, providing incentives for asset and wealth managers to set up and expand their business in hong kong. on financial infrastructure, we have built a highly efficient and reliable retail payments system with remarkable penetration and utilisation rates. perhaps the most game - changing development is

problems and downgraded credit ratings. in the unlikely event that this very negative scenario were to occur, several banks might therefore be forced to act to strengthen their capital bases. if this could not be achieved solely through private capital injections, there is a possibility for the government to inject capital by virtue of the government support to credit institutions act of last autumn. the riksbank ’ s assessment is that we, together with other swedish authorities, are also well prepared to be able to manage the problems that could arise if the situation were to deteriorate to the level of the stress test described in the financial stability report. let me just clarify that the financial stability report ’ s test of the financial system ’ s resilience cannot be compared with the alternative scenarios of a “ more probable ” nature that are usually presented in the monetary policy reports. the latter normally describe the consequences for monetary policy of developments being better or worse than the situation described in the main scenario, but where the alternatives are not normally too far from the main forecasts. in the financial stability the scenario is rather more exaggerated. so where do we stand now and where are we heading? let me briefly summarise where we stand now in terms of risk focus ; the liquidity problems have been dampened, while credit risks and feared loan losses are increasingly in the limelight as economic prospects have deteriorated. credit risks and the size of loan losses are of course closely interlinked with economic activity. so i shall now, not least for this reason, move on to talk about economic activity – the assessments made by the riksbank at the most recent monetary policy meeting in april and the nuances in the views of future economic developments that i put forward at the meeting. things could be better or worse it is natural in times like these to paint a gloomy picture and focus on downside risks. and i am probably the last person to deny that such risks exist. it is also natural that the focus of the monetary policy discussion should be on what a central bank can do when the policy rate approaches zero and further stimulation may be necessary as this is to some extent “ uncharted territory ” for us. but let me now change perspective and adopt a slightly more positive tone. in the discussions at the two most recent monetary policy meetings i have pointed out that there is some possibility that the recovery both in sweden and abroad could come more quickly than most people are assuming. one could perhaps say that i have acted as