global authorities themselves did with their control and surveillance systems. the approach now should not be for the markets to be stopped in their progress, but rather for the authorities to catch up. private sector financial market operators, including multinational banking institutions, hedge funds and institutional fund managers, must in their own interest reconsider and review their modus operandi in the markets. in particular, risk management models must provide for the volatile global financial environment in which they now operate. many encouraging signs emerged from the discussion in washington d. c. to indicate that progress is now being made at all three levels, and that greater stability is gradually returning to the world financial system. south africa, like many other countries in a similar situation, is watching these signs of hope with great interest.

will continue to strengthen our supervisory and regulatory regimes and market infrastructure, consistent with new international standards and best practices. as we have done in the past, we will calibrate these changes to take into account our environment and regulatory objectives. 10. mas is supportive of global reform efforts to strengthen capital and liquidity frameworks. we have always considered capital adequacy and effectiveness of a bank ’ s risk management and capital planning processes as important parts of overall prudential management of banks. as a member of the basel committee on banking supervision, we participated actively in international discussions that helped shape the broad agreement reached earlier this week on the main design elements of the new capital and liquidity reform package. other design details such as calibration, and phase - in arrangements as well as the framework for regulatory buffers will be determined later in the year. we would like to see a set of final proposals that can be implemented globally in a meaningful manner to promote the long term stability of the banking system. there should be a judicious balance between limiting banks ’ activities that are incongruent to their role as an intermediary of financial flows, and allowing them to perform their role in facilitating economic activity and sustaining the recovery. mas will continue to be actively involved at these discussions to shape the proposals. 11. our singapore banks start from relatively strong capital and liquidity positions. they are generally well - capitalised and have in practice maintained capital ratios much higher than our minimum requirements. as such, on a relative basis, we do not expect the proposals to affect them in a significant manner. nevertheless, the global reforms will set new norms for the banking sector and the singapore banks would have to take these into consideration in their capital and liquidity plans moving forward. 12. i mentioned last year that mas will be reviewing the corporate governance regulations and guidelines for locally - incorporated banks and significant life insurers. we have since issued a public consultation paper setting out proposed enhancements to the corporate governance framework for these financial institutions. the main thrusts of the proposals emphasise the need for directors to have the relevant skills and commitment to oversee the operations of the financial institutions, and the important role of independent directors on the board. mas will issue our response to the public consultation shortly. 13. on market conduct, mas has issued two consultation papers on the sale of listed and unlisted investment products, to strengthen safeguards for retail customers and enhance mas ’ regulatory powers. we will be issuing