judgements about the risks that a firm poses to our objectives based on evidence, analysis and direct interaction with firms. the actions we expect firms to take will be based on those judgements ; secondly, it is forward looking – assessing firms not just against the current risk environment but, as i have just outlined, on how existing risks may evolve and new risks emerge ; and thirdly, it is focused on the key risks – and that is where we ’ ll primarily dedicate our focus and attention. across those three principles we will continue to apply proportionality. this means the supervisory focus on your firm will reflect your size and complexity. bank of england although the key elements of our supervisory approach remain, we have made some enhancements, which we communicated to you in our january priorities letter13. these include revising the way we categorise the ‘ potential impact ’ of firms and refining our schedule of ongoing core assurance work. we are communicating what this means to individual firms over the next year, through the supervisory communications we send. we also have some significant change taking place on the regulatory front. the financial services and markets bill, which is currently making its way through parliament will – if passed into law – introduce a new secondary competitiveness and growth objective for the pra. this would sit below our primary objective, to promote the safety and soundness of firms, and alongside our existing secondary objective to facilitate effective competition in the market for services provided by pra - authorised firms. the new objective would require the pra to act in a way which, in advancing our primary objective, and subject to aligning with relevant international standards, facilitates the international competitiveness of the uk economy and its growth in the medium to long term. in a recent speech14 my colleague, vicky saporta, set out how we plan to take forward that new objective, through an approach based on ‘ responsible openness ’. in short this means we will provide a predictable and stable regulatory environment that is grounded in international standards ( for example those set out by the basel committee ), and we will collaborate closely with overseas regulators to maintain their trust in what we do, as well as that of investors and firms. but importantly and against that backdrop of responsible openness, there is still space to tailor rules to uk circumstances when it is appropriate and when we can do so in ways that maintain trust across markets and with fellow regulators. and that last point about supporting the specific needs of the uk economy is of particular relevance

ravi menon : three “ c ” s of a good payment instrument welcome address by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore ( mas ), at the currency conference 2011, singapore, 3 october 2011. * * * why cash is still king distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and a warm welcome to singapore and the 2011 currency conference. singapore is honoured and delighted to host this flagship event. the late mr john shepherd - barron, who pioneered in 1967 the development of the automated teller machine, or atm, said during a 2007 interview : “ money costs money to transport. i am therefore predicting the demise of cash within three to five years. ” shepherd - barron believed fervently that we would soon be swiping our mobile phones at till points, even for small transactions. we have indeed seen an increasing use of cashless payments at point - of - sale. electronic payment alternatives have mushroomed in many countries, ranging from contactless stored value cards in singapore to real - time settlement of electronic fund transfers in the united kingdom. but cash remains “ king ”. even in advanced economies. this is especially so for person - toperson transactions and micro - payments. take high - tech singapore. the use of electronic payments has proliferated rapidly in recent years. yet, currency - in - circulation has been growing at an average 7 per cent per annum during the last ten years. this has reflected demand from a growing population and a growing economy. less well known is how the demand for cash globally is being driven by tourism. tourists have a habit of taking back home unused currency – both notes and coins. this represents a leakage from circulation and needs to be replaced. we don ’ t have good data on this. but take for example, singapore. last year, we received almost 12 million visitors. if everyone took 8 coins back with them, close to 100 million coins would have leaked out of the country. and it will cost mas about s $ 10 million to replace them. that ’ s why we have been working with the singapore mint, changi airport group, and charity organisations to increase the availability of boxes in various parts of changi airport, for tourists to donate their excess notes and coins before they leave the country. physical cash commands a premium during times of uncertainty. we saw this during the 2008 global financial crisis. within the first month of the collapse of lehman brothers, there was an exceptionally large withdrawal of high denomination notes by banks in