jwala rambarran : strengthening financial stability in trinidad and tobago – staying ahead of the curve speech by mr jwala rambarran, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at a breakfast seminar, hosted by the cfa society of trinidad and tobago, port of spain, 6 september 2012. * * * salutations, at the outset, i would like to thank the cfa society of trinidad and tobago for organizing this forum and for inviting me to speak on the very relevant and timely issue of financial stability. over the past decade, the cfa society of trinidad and tobago has played an important role in promoting principles of ethics, education and professional excellence amongst our country ’ s financial analysts, portfolio managers, and other investment professionals. at a time when investigations are on - going behind the manipulation of one of the world ’ s most iconic reference rates – the london inter - bank offer rate ( libor ) – by top executives of several global banks, i commend the cfa society for maintaining its strong ethical and moral thrust in the conduct of financial affairs. i do hope cfa charter holders and those aspiring to charter holder status will continue to resist the temptation to engage in numbers - game manoeuvres to meet ambitious financial performance targets. remember, you are not too big to jail! as many of you are aware, on a mid - september morning four years ago, americans awoke to discover the unthinkable : the nation ’ s financial system was in free fall. in “ too big to fail ”, andrew ross sorkin, the award - winning new york times columnist, provides a blowby - blow inside story of how wall street and washington fought to save the financial system – and to save themselves. it is a cautionary tale for decades to come. this true story is not only about financial institutions that were too big to fail – lehman brothers, merrill lynch, and aig – but also a humbling human drama about the most powerful men and women in finance and politics who, motivated by ego and greed as well as by fear and self - preservation, thought they themselves were too big to fail. unfortunately, they were behind the curve. confidence in global financial institutions and markets were badly shaken, igniting the worst financial crisis in generations. since then, the global financial crisis has morphed and its new epicentre is in europe, not the united states. many argue that the crisis was similar to the attacks of september 11 : a singular, unprecedented event

nils bernstein : recent economic and financial developments in denmark speech by mr nils bernstein, chairman of the board of governors of the national bank of denmark, at the annual meeting of the danish bankers association, copenhagen, 6 december 2006. * * * thank you for inviting me to speak here at the annual meeting of the danish bankers association. the danish economy is still booming, and there is no sign of any slowdown in the near future. the upswing started in mid - 2003 and has gained momentum since then. originally underpinned by income - tax cuts, the upswing has been gradually reinforced by the remarkable growth in the international economy. in this picture, europe has generally lagged behind the rest of the world, but now that economic growth seems to be receding in the usa, activity is on the increase among our most important trading partners in europe. the danish upswing has brought unemployment down to the lowest level since the oil crisis in the 1970s. in contrast to previous upswings, the balance of payments is still strong and the government surplus rests on a sound structural foundation. however, a complete picture of the danish economy also includes risks. the global imbalances are still significant, with the enormous us current - account deficit as the dominant feature. overall, the imbalances are still generally expected to be redressed over time. the us economy is slowing down due to the receding housing market. the risk of more abrupt adjustment cannot be ruled out, though. however, the danger signals regarding the danish economy come from within. the future course will depend on denmark's ability to tackle the situation. for a long time low inflation and moderate wage increases have been the order of the day in denmark, just like in many other countries. this phenomenon is among other things the result of growing recognition of the favourable economic effects of low inflation. low unemployment combined with continued robust growth in the demand for danish goods entails a risk of the pressure on the labour market leading to higher inflation. it is well - known that this can cause unemployment to rise at a later stage. although this is not considered to be the most likely course of events, the risk of detrimental overheating of the economy is growing. against this background danmarks nationalbank has recommended – and continues to recommend – measures to dampen the overall increase in demand in order to ensure sustained favourable economic development in denmark. danmarks nationalbank has noted that the government has adopted a wait - and - see approach. as