bank management and bank customers, which has over the years been significantly eroded. 18. again, don ’ t get me wrong. i am not advocating that we should go back to oldfashioned banking. it is far too difficult, if not impossible, to turn the clock back this far and to do so might mean the loss of some beneficial innovations over the years. however, there is considerable public interest in ensuring that banking, which remains the predominant channel of intermediation between savers and borrowers in our society, functions efficiently and effectively, with a high degree of professionalism and strong ethical standards. 19. it is against this backdrop that the international community, through g20, financial stability board ( fsb ), basel committee on banking supervision ( bcbs ) etc. has sought to overhaul the banking regulatory framework and banking standards in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. some of the reform measures have been designed to address the problems arising from the misalignment of interest amongst the key stakeholders in banking. while some bankers may think, rightly or wrongly, that these reform measures represent a degree of overkill, the public sector firmly believes that the current regime of “ heads you win, tails i lose ” must not be allowed to continue. what i mean here is the regime in which bankers pocket huge bonuses in good times ( or even in bad times as in the case of aigfp and merrill lynch ) and when the banks run into trouble the public sector, for fear of a systemic failure, comes to the rescue with a bailout using public funds. this is clearly unacceptable. so the choice is obvious. new regulations dealing with capital buffers, liquidity management, leverage, bankers ’ compensation, ringfencing of deposit - taking business from riskier operations etc. have been introduced. also notable are the measures specifically designed to mitigate the moral hazard arising from “ too - big ” or “ too complex ” to fail situations. separately, there is a trend of regulators seeking to beef up their efforts to ensure that banks do not constantly place their own commercial interests ahead of those of their customers. protection of consumers and investors is nothing new but it has recently attracted considerable public support that more is needed. 20. for sure, regulators will continue to pursue further changes in banking. this is ongoing and there is still some way to go. in the process, there will be arguments, frustrations and inevitably pushback. no doubt the new standards and regulations will lead

##ly access the more liquid onshore interest rate swap market to manage related interest rate risks, rather than relying on offshore non - deliverable interest rate swaps. these initiatives have been welcomed by the market and are conducive to 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches closer connectivity between the onshore markets and international investors, and ultimately benefit the high - quality development of onshore financial markets. moving on to another key focus for the next stage of china's opening up : its green finance market. to achieve its dual - carbon strategies, it's estimated that over rmb100 trillion will need to be directed towards carbon reduction, which presents significant climate finance opportunities for foreign investors. as the leading green and sustainable finance hub in asia and the dominant gateway to china, hong kong plays a crucial role in supporting china's climate transition by channelling international capital to green projects. last year, out of the approximately us $ 28 billion green and sustainable bond issuances in hong kong, mainland entities accounted for over 80 % of the issuances. since 2021, we have supported the green, sustainable, and blue bond issuances from the governments of the shenzhen municipality and hainan province in hong kong. this has created a strong demonstrative effect for both public and private sectors in the mainland to leverage hong kong's green bond platform and enriched the range of rmb financial products available in the hong kong market. hong kong is already asia's largest sustainable financing centre, with one - third market share. to facilitate further growth in sustainable investment between china and the rest of the world, we have spearheaded several initiatives. first, we are the first asian jurisdiction mandating climate - related disclosure across the financial sector by 2025, and the first market working to operationalise the common ground taxonomy jointly developed by china and the eu. this allows international issuers and investors to report and communicate sustainability impacts and meet regulatory and investor needs across global markets. secondly, we have been collaborating with relevant mainland authorities to promote hong kong's green financing platform. together with the guangzhou branch of the people's bank of china and hkex, we launched the " guide for mainland corporates to issue green bonds in hong kong " last year, providing operational guidance for more mainland corporates to issue green bonds in hong kong. thirdly, we have introduced a number of financial support measures, including subsidies and tax incentives, such as the green and sustainable finance grant scheme, to cover the