business practices so as to ultimately realise the strategic goals. this trend has become important for all sectors in the economy. within the financial sector, for example, significant structural enhancements have been made to enable financial institutions and markets to respond to the rapidly changing demands. these include changes that have heightened competition and which have fostered the emergence of increasingly diverse market participants and organisations. the dramatically changing landscape calls for a new generation of highly - qualified professionals equipped with more comprehensive skills. to support and sustain these developments, the education system must evolve so as to meet these new demands. against this backdrop, our ability to sustain long - term growth clearly depends on our ability to build, maintain and continuously expand our knowledge base. the key to this process is thus to be able to adapt to the new environment. as charles darwin observed " it is not the strongest ", " nor the most intelligent that survive " but it is those that are " the most responsive to change. " it is this capability that needs to be cultivated to ensure a mobile and agile work force that can adjust and respond to the emerging developments in the changing environment. as graduates today, you embody the hopes of the nation in making the transition towards a knowledge - based economy a reality. in graduating today, you would have achieved an important milestone in your life. this is indeed an important and distinct mark of success for all of you. not so much because of the degree which you now hold in your hand, but more importantly its promise for your future. your journey to reach this moment is a testimony of your own individual potential, determination and hard work. the learning experience, however, needs to go on. in today's environment, cultivating a lifelong learning experience is essential to personal and economic success. lifelong learning involves more than just formal education and training. it encompasses learning throughout the life cycle, at different stages of life and in different learning environments. as individuals, attention to lifelong learning is essential to remain relevant in a highly competitive environment and to enhance our ability to function effectively and in a meaningful way as members of our community. with new knowledge comes innovation, agility and increased productivity that contributes to the overall performance and economic growth process. while it also enables us to adapt to the constantly changing environment, it also increases our capacity to cope with natural emergencies. the challenge then is to embrace the opportunities as they present themselves and to continuously develop new skills and competencies that will be needed to meet current and future demands. the opportunities

to finance either securities inventory or a back - to - back sft loan to another financial firm ( sft matched book ). the financial stability risks associated with a dealer's use of short - term sft funding to finance its inventory are relatively straightforward. if a broker - dealer loses access to financing and is forced to sell securities at a depressed price, fire sale externalities may result because other market participants may be less able to borrow against the same securities. and if the broker - dealer fails due to runs by short - term sft lenders, post - default fire sales by the firm's creditors or contagious runs on other financial intermediaries may ensue. because broker - dealers generally do not internalize the externalities that arise in these cases, they may use more than the economically efficient level of short - term funding. the financial stability risks associated with sft matched books are somewhat less obvious. even if the outflows and inflows associated with a dealer's sft positions are perfectly maturity - matched, reputational considerations may inhibit a dealer from reducing the amount of sft credit that it provides its customers, exposing the dealer to considerable liquidity stress. if the dealer does reduce the amount of credit that it provides to its customers, those customers may be forced to engage in asset fire sales of their own. particularly in situations in which the customers are highly leveraged, maturity - transforming entities that lack access to a liquidity provider of last resort may pose a significant risk of contagion. post - crisis financial regulatory reform has taken some steps to address the financial stability risks associated with a dealer's use of short - term sft funding to finance inventory. for example, the liquidity coverage ratio requires firms to hold a buffer of high - quality liquid assets when they use sft liabilities that mature in less than 30 days to fund many types of securities. new risk - based capital rules have substantially increased the amount of capital that dealers are required to hold against assets in the trading book. but these reforms are limited : the lcr does not require firms to hold any liquidity buffer against sft liabilities that mature in more than 30 days or that are backed by very liquid assets. there continues to be a need for standardized capital requirements for market risk to back up model - derived risk weights. moreover, the current regulatory framework does not impose any meaningful regulatory charge on the financial stability risks associated with sft matched books. the basel