hiroshi nakaso : toward innovative payment and settlement systems keynote speech by mr hiroshi nakaso, deputy governor of the bank of japan, at the 9th asia banking ceo round table, tokyo, 25 november 2014. * * * introduction thank you for your kind introduction. distinguished guests, friends, and colleagues. it is my great pleasure to speak at the 9th asia banking ceo round table. today ’ s theme is “ operating in a new world : digitisation and disruptions in banking. ” initially, i was somewhat puzzled by the word “ disruptions, ” but soon realized that disruption is only a prerequisite to creation. banks can generate new value - added by discarding old business models and embarking on innovative challenges. now, the questions are : what is the role of central banks in accelerating such innovation? what can we central bankers do to help banks steer through new challenges? how can we work together with the financial community to maximize the benefits of households and businesses? these are all very deeply rooted in the fundamental purpose of central banking ; that is, to contribute to the sound development of the national economy. today, i will explain our efforts toward creating innovative payment and settlement systems. in my view, the future payment and settlement infrastructure should offer an environment that facilitates the smooth delivery of the japanese yen and japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) anywhere and anytime. this is what i would call the ubiquity of the japanese yen and jgbs. as a guardian of the national payment and settlement systems, the bank of japan ( boj ) will cooperate with bankers, market participants, and central bank colleagues overseas to make the unprecedented a reality with ideas that are innovative if sometimes disruptive, to borrow a word from today ’ s main theme of the round table. please note that the views expressed today are mine, not necessarily those of the boj. the plan of my talk is summarized on slide 1. first, i will consider where we currently stand and what we can expect for the future. next, i will elaborate on four major areas in which we are exerting efforts toward better payment and settlement systems. after that, i will briefly touch on recent developments in japan ’ s economy and the conduct of monetary policy under the quantitative and qualitative monetary easing. lastly, i will make my concluding remarks. i. where do we stand and what do we expect for the future? following the asian currency crisis in 1997 – 98, the region has seen remarkable

brian wynter : jamaica ’ s recent economic path and prospects – the view from the bank address by mr brian wynter, governor of the bank of jamaica, to montego bay chamber of commerce & industry, breakfast forum, montego bay, 21 april 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen : thank you for inviting me to address your function this morning. it is interesting that this is taking place just one week before the minister of finance presents his plans to finance the government ’ s expenditures for fiscal year 2011 / 12. in addition to the obvious interest that we all have in the outcome of this annual national event, there is another reason to take special note of it and that is to see in action the early fruits of the focus on reforming the entire budget process that represents a major step in a series of policy initiatives aimed at reversing the trends in jamaica ’ s indebtedness, entrenching fiscal discipline and accountability and engineering sustainable gdp growth. this is an enormous challenge made more acute by, first, the severe negative impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 / 09 on our export markets and, more recently, by the large increases in international commodity prices over the last nine months or so. let me tell you what has happened so far in this series of initiatives. in january last year, the government negotiated the highly successful jamaica debt exchange with local investors. this, together with a large tax package, public sector wage restraint and aggressive commitments to off - loading loss - making public sector entities, paved the way for the signing of a stand - by agreement with the international monetary fund. this in turn unlocked access for the government to unprecedented levels of funding from the multilateral financial institutions for fiscal and balance of payments support. these developments induced a restoration of investor confidence that has permitted the central bank to ease monetary policy progressively thereby bringing interest rates on money market instruments and government bonds to levels not seen in jamaica in decades. the same dynamic, supported by monetary policy and fiscal policy initiatives, created conditions for inflation expectations, which research has shown is the most significant driver of inflation in jamaica, to fall dramatically. as the year ended, headline inflation for the fiscal year was 7. 8 per cent, close to the bottom of the target range of 7. 5 per cent to 9. 5 per cent. last week, statin released its inflation report for march, which saw consumer prices increasing by 1. 1 per cent for the month. this matched the central bank ’ s