45 daily newspapers printed in hong kong and no fewer than 661 registered periodicals. now, of course, some of these publications are what are known as ma ging ( 馬 [UNK] ) or racing papers, and not all of them have their dedicated financial pages. even so, hong kong is remarkably well served by the financial media, and one thing that has never ceased to impress me during my sixteen years as monetary authority has been the quality and dedication of the many people in hong kong who make up the financial media. the many colleagues in the media play an extremely important part in the development of financial markets, and i should like to pay tribute to their professionalism. i feel entitled to use the word " colleagues ", not just because i have enjoyed a very close and productive relationship with the financial media, but also because i too, albeit uninvited and unpaid, have for the past 11 years served as a columnist in several newspapers through my weekly " viewpoint " articles. i should like to thank those newspapers who have faithfully reproduced these articles, week after week, even when the content may not always have been as newsworthy as they may have hoped. ladies and gentlemen, this evening's gala dinner, in recognising excellence in financial services will provide encouragement for the future development of financial markets in the region. it is also an opportunity to celebrate euromoney's 40th anniversary and its long association with hong kong and this region. i should like to offer euromoney heartiest congratulations on its birthday and the very best of wishes for a flourishing future.

a level playing field, stimulating interest in hong kong among islamic countries, encouraging product development, and raising market awareness within hong kong, particularly through the educational work of the treasury markets association. all of this work looks both to the past and to the future for inspiration. looking to the past, we have the still - recent experience of the asian financial crisis, one element of which was the undeveloped state of some of our financial markets, in particular the debt market. many of the market - development initiatives on which we have been working have been intended to address these deficiencies. more recently, the current financial crisis serves as a reminder that some aspects of market development may be taken too far, where, for example, they privilege the process of intermediation and neglect the financial and economic realities that lie behind it. the caution inculcated by the asian financial crisis, and a natural conservatism in many markets in this region, seem to have helped us avoid the worst excesses we have seen in more developed markets. looking more positively to the future, this region is poised to become the centre of economic growth and wealth creation in the world. indeed we are already a long way down that path. so far, a great deal of the wealth created has been diverted into markets elsewhere in the world. market development in this region, on a foundation of efficient infrastructure and sound regulation, will help retain more of that wealth for investment within the region. this evening ‘ s gala event celebrates the 40th anniversary of one of the world ’ s foremost financial publications. it is therefore only proper to say something about the vital role of the media in financial market development. the media can, i think, be seen as a kind of complementary, parallel infrastructure to the financial infrastructure that i have briefly described. the media are, of course, more visible, and much more diverse, but they also make use of similar technologies, whether advanced or traditional, and at various points they intersect with the financial infrastructure. modern markets are, in fact, dependent on the media, whether in their provision of real - time information second by second, or in the more reflective analysis of market trends, or in the exposure of scandals and malpractices. it is no coincidence that hong kong is both a financial centre and a world media centre. at least seventeen international news agencies, 29 international or regional newspapers, and another 29 magazines have a presence in hong kong, and all of them have some interest in financial affairs. we have