alan greenspan : regulation, innovation and wealth creation remarks by mr alan greenspan, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the society of business economists, london, u. k., 25 september 2002. * * * since the dawn of the industrial revolution here in britain, virtually every generation in the industrialized world has witnessed advances in living standards. a never - ending stream of innovation has led inexorably to expanded trade and improved productivity in many nations throughout the world. today, we can see on the horizon vast new means of communicating and computing, practical applications of advances in biotechnology, and doubtless many other innovations. but a half - century from now, the goods and services that we produce and consume will, to a significant extent, reflect applications of insights not yet formed or even imagined. could the residents of sophisticated eighteenth - century london, prior to sir william herschel's demonstration of invisible radiation, even contemplate the existence of radio waves that would reach around the world? i still have trouble grasping how the shortwave transmissions of the bbc travel thousands of miles to find their way to my bedroom at night to be picked up by my transistor shortwave radio. our modern electronic devices work according to the laws of quantum mechanics, which were laid out in the 1920s by erwin schrodinger, werner heisenberg, and paul dirac ; they postulated that at the subatomic level the world did not obey the centuries - old newtonian views of how the forces of the universe function. the major revolutions of albert einstein had occurred a few years earlier and nuclear power was a generation or so beyond. i raise such examples only to emphasize that we cannot realistically project future innovations and the potential for those innovations to create economic value. novel insights, by definition, have not previously entered anyone's consciousness. however, that unanticipated discoveries of how to create wealth will emerge in the decades ahead no longer seems as conjectural as it may have, for example, before the industrial revolution. full realization of the benefits of past innovations, and of those our grandchildren will experience, will depend on the forces of globalization already in play to develop the commercial potential of new technologies and to transmit the application of these technologies across our economies. by spreading expertise and expanding the division of labor and specialization to ever broader markets, those forces led to enhanced trade in the past half - century, which in turn has dramatically elevated the

to ensure it is future - ready. as i have said before, " the code is a cornerstone of consumer protection in financial services in ireland, establishing a set of rules and expectations for how firms should treat their customers and has allowed the central bank to intervene to protect consumers. " the changes we have proposed build on the existing code, reflecting the provision of financial services in a digital world. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches we have had very active and important engagement with stakeholders on the code, with feedback coming through from across industry, civil society and other government agencies and regulators, as well as from the minister for finance. the feedback we have received has been broadly positive with many stakeholders welcoming the proposals. we are aiming to publish the revised code early in the new year. when implemented, consumers will benefit from a package of protections that reflect how they are accessing financial services today. regulated firms will benefit from a clearer articulation of their code obligations. as you know, we are also making changes to our supervisory model, which we will begin to implement in january. the new model remains risk - based, but is evolving to deliver a more integrated approach drawing on all elements of our mandate ( consumer and investor protection, safety and soundness, financial stability and integrity of the system ). this enhanced approach is based on accumulated experience, on insight, on best practice and is built for a faster moving and more complex financial services sector. firms will hear one consistent voice from the bank, with more coordinated messaging and more streamlined demands across the full span of our regulatory and supervisory mandate. we will promote a more open and transparent supervisory approach. to enable and implement our new supervisory framework we need the right operational approach and organisational structure. we are moving to an organisational structure where our regulatory and supervisory directorates will have teams responsible for integrated supervision across all our regulatory outcomes. importantly, our supervisory model will place consumer protection at the heart of day - today supervision. it will position us better as an organisation to meet our objectives to ensure consumers of financial services are protected in this changing financial landscape, as highlighted by the oecd report. this is why this review by the oecd is so important, as it provides us with recommendations and insights that will support our ambition to transform and will be incorporated into our transformed supervisory approach. the oecd's assessment that the central bank is operating in line with the high level principles is very positive. we also welcome the recommendations on how