banking industry. as separate but interconnected projects, these included the reform of capital adequacy and liquidity regulations, the strengthening of the banks ’ crisis resolution system and the concentration of banking supervision within the euro area under the ecb ’ s responsibility. the practical task for our working group was to consider which forms of business and securities trading should be allowed for deposit banks. the proponents of structural regulation think that the safety nets, formal and informal, present in deposit banking might encourage large deposit banks to take excessive risks and to be overly active in the securities markets. the consequence would be the banks ’ increased propensity to fall into crisis and tax - payers ’ increased exposure to banks ’ risks. to avoid this, the involvement of deposit banks in risky business activities should be restricted. at the same time, there are experts who argue that sufficiently good results could be achieved by tightening the regulations on banks ’ capital requirements and dismantling the safety nets that protect them. thus, the scope for moral hazard would be reduced to such an extent that restrictions on deposit banks ’ scope of business would not be necessary. the banking sector itself has generally been lobbying against both restrictions on activities and tightened capital requirements. structural regulation has a long history especially in the united states where the glasssteagall act, passed in the 1930s, restricted banks ’ securities trading up until the 1990s, when it was repealed. as a consequence of the financial crisis, however, there has been renewed interest in structural regulation, and the united states has now adopted the socalled volcker rule, which prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary securities and derivatives trading. there are, however, some significant exceptions to this rule. britain took a slightly different approach to structural regulation. this was guided by the principle of insulating basic banking activities within banking corporations from other functions ( i. e. ring - fencing ) so as to prevent the transfer of risk, for instance, from securities trading to basic banking. one of the recommendations of my work group was that banking groups should isolate proprietary trading within separate companies. the financing of such companies should be separated from the deposit bank so as to prevent at least large - scale proprietary trading at the risk of the deposit bank, trading that would occur indirectly under the protection of the deposit guarantee scheme ( liikanen et al., 2012 ). what connections did our working group have with academic research? professor marco pagano, who currently chairs the advisory scientific committee of the european systemic risk board (

is doomed. at the workplace you always have to innovate, to move to new standards of perfection and to abide by new rules. you need the right attitude, the knowledge and skills to react in an optimal manner to situations that may come your way. you will some day leave the portals of the university of technology, mauritius, to start your career. from then on, you will be exposed to a very different world from what you may have known within the boundaries of university education : a world of fierce competition, filled with all types of risks. my advice is to let yourselves be guided by the very basic principles of social and professional lives – self - respect and honesty. apart from the good educational background you may have acquired, you will continue building self - respect by persevering to learn and innovate throughout your career. if you wish to succeed, make perseverance your bosom friend. this is a character that will make a difference. i enjoin a quote from george bernard shaw “ i am not a teacher, only a fellow traveller of whom you asked the way. i pointed ahead - ahead of myself as well as of you ”. persevere and invent your own future. i wish you the very best of success. the bank of mauritius is ready to support this kind of initiative aiming at creating awareness of what is happening in the financial sector, especially the banking sector. i believe that the central bank can play an important role and be a bridge between the financial sector and your newly born society. i direct you to the website of the bank of mauritius where you will be exposed to loads of information on the financial industry and the way it is regulated and supervised. thank you.