eddie yue : investment in infrastructure is crucial to asia ’ s growth statement by mr eddie yue, deputy chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority and head of the delegation of hong kong, for the 46th asian development bank annual meeting, delhi, 4 may 2013. * * * i would like to thank the government of india for hosting the 46th annual meeting of the asian development bank ( adb ). i wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to mr haruhiko kuroda for his excellent work in leading adb for more than eight years. we welcome the appointment of mr takehiko nakao as the new president of adb, and look forward to continue working closely with the bank under his leadership in furthering the development of the region. global economic sentiment has improved since the beginning of this year. the announcement of further accommodative monetary easing by major advanced economies has reduced tail risks and stabilised financial markets. but while the accommodative monetary policy will help authorities buy time to solve the problem, it is by no means a substitute for medium - term fiscal consolidation and structural reforms that are required for the economy to regain competitiveness and return to a sustainable path. looking ahead, economic adjustments and deleveraging in both the public and private sectors are set to continue in the advanced economies, and regional economies will increasingly have to look to themselves for new sources of growth. in this regard, a number of developing economies in the region will need to further invest and upgrade their infrastructure to fully realise their growth potential. infrastructure development generates employment, improves access to basic services and economic opportunities, promotes trade and investment, reduces the cost of doing business and encourages private sector development. it raises income and helps reduce poverty by spreading the benefits of growth more widely. the rising standard of living will in turn generate domestic demand, providing a new source of growth even as global demand continues to slow. adb estimates that asia needs as much as us $ 8. 3 trillion in overall infrastructure investment between 2010 and 2020, with an average of us $ 750 billion in annual infrastructure spending. while the infrastructure needs are huge, asia also has vast foreign reserves and private domestic savings. traditionally, these savings have not been channelled to meet asia ’ s own financing needs directly. most of the savings have been invested in advanced economies before they are recycled back into the region. however, the global financial crisis has changed the landscape. investors are increasingly looking to diversify their portfolio to this part of

joseph yam : exchange fund notes opening remarks by mr joseph yam, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the signing ceremony for the appointment of retail exchange fund notes distributors, hong kong, 3 may 2005. * * * i have often emphasised the need for diversification in the financial intermediation channels to maximise the contribution of the financial system to economic growth and development. diversification can also promote financial stability through reducing the over - dependence of financial intermediation upon one particular channel. such diversification is therefore clearly in the public interest, to the extent, i think, of requiring the involvement of the public sector in its promotion, if the free market does not produce the desired results. indeed, hong kong ’ s non - interventionist government finally got around to this view back in 1989 and on 14 march 1990 the first weekly issue of 91 - day exchange fund bills, amounting to hk $ 300 million, was launched. since then the exchange fund bills and notes programme has become a central feature of hong kong ’ s debt market. the total amount of exchange fund paper now outstanding is hk $ 125 billion. and it was not just a matter of bringing supply to the market to meet demand. we developed a benchmark yield curve, a market - making system and a sophisticated market infrastructure, including a paperless clearing and custodian system. but more needs to be done. although the debt market has, over the past 15 years, become a significant channel of financial intermediation, sizing it against gdp it is still a lot smaller than the banking and equity markets, and by quite a wide margin. furthermore, retail interest, increasing as it may have been, is still lacking by the standards of the developed markets in the us, europe and japan. and the further promotion of retail interest, specifically in exchange fund notes, is the focus of attention of our gathering today. as you may be aware, over the past year or so, we made various experimental attempts to attract retail investors to the primary issues of exchange fund notes. on the basis of the experience gained, and subject to three refinements to be introduced to the arrangements, we have decided to continue offering exchange fund notes to retail investors. the first refinement is the introduction of greater flexibility in the selection of specific issues of exchange fund notes to be offered to retail investors in the primary market. instead of indiscriminately opening up all the 2 - year and 3 -