ravi menon : mas marks 50 years serving singapore welcome remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at mas 50th anniversary partners appreciation evening, 7 october 2021. * * * prime minister lee hsien loong, chairman and board members of mas, esm goh chok tong, friends and family of mas welcome to the mas ’ 50th anniversary partners appreciation evening – the first in a series of events to commemorate our golden jubilee. this evening is a time for thanksgiving. there are about 50 of us here at the mas building and about 800 friends and family joining us virtually. this includes our friends from the financial industry, consumer and governance groups, tripartite partners, academic institutions, and international organisations. and of course, our family – past and present staff and leaders of mas and our colleagues in the broader public service. this is a special occasion for me personally. i joined mas in 1987 and have spent most of my professional career here. so much of what i have learnt and how i have evolved, i owe it to the many bosses and colleagues i worked with in mas over the years. mas was already a highly competent organisation in 1987, and i have seen it grow over the decades to become what it is today – a central bank and financial regulator highly regarded among its international peers and the global financial industry. mas has played a critical role in singapore ’ s economic development – keeping inflation low, managing singapore ’ s official foreign reserves, preserving financial stability, and promoting singapore ’ s development as an international financial centre. what mas has achieved reflects the strategic vision of its past leaders – its chairmen and managing directors – and deep professionalism of generations of mas officers. they worked hard, to keep our exchange rate strong, our reserves healthy, and our financial sector safe yet dynamic. mas was fortunate in the outstanding leaders it has had. this evening, we are honoured to have one of them, pm lee address us. pm has a long history with mas. this is the third time he is speaking at a mas anniversary ; he spoke to us when we were 30 years old, then 40 years, and now when we ’ re 50. and of course, pm was chairman of mas from 1998 to 2004, when he spearheaded a series of bold reforms to liberalise the financial sector. but mas could not have done it alone – even with its exceptional staff and outstanding leaders. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches mas has succeeded because singapore has succeeded. if

of the benefits, as well as the dangers, of globalisation. in hong kong, where controls of this kind are not practical because of the realisation that global links supply our lifeblood, we have taken a different approach. we have chosen to enhance policy credibility through greater transparency and through strengthening and tightening up our rule - based monetary system. my third observation is that those who said that the asian crisis was the death knell of asia as an economic force - and there were many of them - seem to have been wrong. there has been remarkable resilience, even in the worst - hit economies, and a will to reform and restructure that has helped put a number of economies back on their feet even during a time of global economic downturn. progress has not been evenly spread throughout the region, and there are still causes for anxiety. but, as the world economy shows signs of recovery, the prospects for the region, if not dazzling, look somewhat brighter. it is now my great pleasure to introduce our speaker and discussant. from the late eighties until very recently, stan fischer has been very much at the centre of world economic and financial crisis - and its solutions - first at the world bank and then as first deputy managing director and subsequently senior adviser at the imf. he has played a practical role - often a crucial one - in addressing, preventing and resolving crises, and he has written extensively on the subject. asia, no less than other regions of the world, has benefited from his expertise, and we are very honoured to have him here to talk about the lessons that can be learned from the recent crisis. steve grenville served for 20 years with the reserve bank of australia, and was deputy governor of that bank from 1996 to 2001. before joining the reserve bank, he served in the oecd in paris, and before that he spent time with the imf in indonesia. he played a pivotal role during the asian crisis, and was instrumental in australia ’ s involvement in three of the larger support packages in the region. it is a great honour to have him here as discussant today. stan and steve are old friends of mine. i therefore think it is right for me to comment on the positions in which they now find themselves after careers totalling around 40 years in central banking, and to try to see if this sheds any light on the eternal question : “ what happens to central bankers when they cease to be central bankers? ” i speak from a