to return to the trust issue, if the financial system is going to demonstrate its trustworthiness, it should be taking a longer - term view than is evident today in supporting the economy and its customers. with thanks to richard kelly, keith farrell, gina fitzgerald, deirdre mullally and tim o ’ hanrahan for their assistance in drafting these remarks. 1 gary b. gorton ( 2012 ), “ misunderstanding financial crises : why we don ’ t see them coming. ” 2 regulatory cycles : revisiting the political economy of financial crises by jihad dagher. imf working paper ( 18 / 8 ). 3 see central bank of ireland strategic plan 2019 – 2021 4 see central bank of ireland strategic plan 2019 – 2021 5 government of ireland surplus recorded in 2018 exchequer figures for the first time since 2006 6 source : central bank regulatory returns 8 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches 7 see central bank of ireland household credit market report 2018. a total stock of 113, 871 pdh mortgage accounts were categorised as restructured at end - september 2018 8 for 2018 figures see ntma. for 2017 and prior years see central statistics office 9 see central bank of ireland household credit market report 2018 10 page 12 – as at q2 2018. see central bank of ireland household credit market report 2018 11 see central bank of ireland – civic society www. cso. ie / en / statistics / construction / newdwellingcompletions / roundtable presentation see 12 ed sibley ( 2017 ) the irish financial services sector : a prudential regulation perspective 13 for example, the updated capital requirements directive ( crdiv ) and the capital requirements regulation ( crr ) revised the capital requirements and also introduced a significant toolkit of measures to address macroprudential risks and weaknesses. the bank recovery and resolution directive ( brrd ) agreed in 2014 provides tools for managing failing banks. solvency ii similarly introduced a new regime for insurance firms. 14 philip r. lane macro - financial policies for the short term and the long term 15 central bank of ireland – brexit task force reports 16 see brexit faq and brexit consumer faq 17 see roundtable on brexit supply chain and roundtable for brexit stakeholders 18 for example, see gerry cross brexit developments 19 see european commission preparing for the withdrawal of the united kingdom from the european union on 30 march 2019 : implementing the commission ’ s contingency action plan

other emerging regions. several countries have entered into bilateral agreements, including trade agreements with asean to enhance economic cooperation. these multilateral and bilateral engagements have the potential to create many new business opportunities for asean smes. greater financial integration as a catalyst of growth for smes let me now turn to the prospects for greater regional financial integration and its potential to support growth for the asean smes. given the region ’ s high savings rate of approximately 30 % of gdp, there is immense scope for greater financial integration in the region. an intensification of financial integration in asean will serve to enhance the more effective intermediation of funds and thus the efficient allocation of resources in the region, thereby acting as a catalyst to achieve a growth that is mutually reinforcing for the economies in the region. this will allow for excess savings in one country to be channelled into productive investments in another country within the region. the bulk of asean ’ s surplus funds, however, are currently intermediated mainly through the international financial markets before being reinvested back into the region. in particular, more than 90 % of cross - border portfolio investment flows are channelled to the advanced economies. given the usd 1 trillion infrastructure funding required by asean in the next decade 2, greater financial integration will facilitate the re - channelling of at least a part of the region ’ s surplus funds towards productive investment opportunities in the region. regional financial integration will also allow for more efficient risk diversification of assets to include foreign assets from within the region. this will not only reduce vulnerability to external developments but will contribute to achieving more stable conditions in the regional financial markets. following the development of the domestic financial systems in asean, the next phase of development is to foster greater financial integration in the banking, insurance and capital markets and in the linking of the payment and settlement systems. the growing presence of regional financial institutions will be an important contributor to the development of smes in asean. the availability of cross - border financing will enable smes to innovate, invest and further expand within the region. beyond financing, smes can also leverage on the extensive networks and advisory services of regional banks to facilitate matching with regional clients and entry into new markets. this can be an important source of information on countryspecific dynamics and requirements for the smes before venturing into new markets in the region. the digital age also augurs well for sme businesses. the use of technology such as mobile and internet banking have enabled financial institutions to provide