michelle w bowman : opening remarks – " monetary policy ’ s impact on workers and their communities " opening remarks by ms michelle w bowman, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at " monetary policy ’ s impact on workers and their communities ", a fed listens event, sponsored by the federal reserve bank of chicago, chicago, illinois, 17 october 2019. * * * thank you, president evans, for hosting this event today, and to our moderator and participants for taking part in this valuable discussion. today ’ s event is the last in our series of fed listens events held across the country to learn about how americans think about monetary policy and how they think about the federal reserve. in keeping with the purpose of fed listens, i would like to spend most of our time in conversation. but i do want to offer a few thoughts about why the fed is reaching out to seek a broad range of views, and what we are hoping to accomplish through this initiative. fed listens is a new comprehensive outreach to the public on monetary policy. for many decades there was a sense at the board that the public wasn ’ t interested or even willing to dive into the complexities of monetary policy. that view has changed in a fundamental way, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis when it was urgently important that the public understand what we were doing. so we began explaining as accessibly and as clearly as we could what we were doing and why. now we are listening carefully. since i became a board member almost a year ago, it has become clear to me that people are not only willing to engage on complex economic issues, but they also want to know that their concerns are being taken into consideration on issues that affect their financial well - being. the fed ’ s movement toward greater transparency and public engagement is well underway, and advancing that effort is one of my top priorities. at the same time, we recognize that the clear communication of our policies actually helps us achieve our goals. when we communicate our views on the economic outlook and our expectations for where interest rates may be heading, consumers and businesses take that information into account when making decisions on spending, investment, and hiring. for that reason, our policy communications are an important part of the fed ’ s toolkit for influencing the direction of the economy. fed listens is a natural outcome of this commitment to public engagement. we have heard from many people from different parts of the country and from different sectors of the economy

grant spencer : banking regulation - where to from here? speech by mr grant spencer, deputy governor of the reserve bank of new zealand, to kanganews new zealand debt capital markets summit, auckland, 2 august 2017. * * * background i began my present job as head of financial stability at the reserve bank in april 2007. that month saw the first straw in the wind of the us sub - prime crisis – the failure of a real estate trust called “ new century financial ”. over the next three years the reserve bank was kept very busy attempting to protect the new zealand banking system and economy from the ravages of the global financial crisis ( gfc ). in the aftermath of the gfc from 2010 onwards, we saw a step up in banking regulation globally, epitomised by the g20 - sponsored basel iii reforms, financial stability board initiatives, and the dodd - frank act in the usa. the reforms sought to reduce risk - taking by banks, increase capital and liquidity buffers, and improve resolution regimes so that government bail - outs could be more avoidable in the future. while the australian and new zealand banks were less directly affected by the gfc than their northern hemisphere counterparts, they were severely tested, particularly when shut out of international funding markets for several months following lehman brothers ’ collapse. it was inevitable and appropriate that the tightening of banking regulation would be felt in this part of the world. the new zealand banking system is highly integrated with international markets and needs to maintain a strong reputation if it is to continue its lead role in intermediating new zealand ’ s financial dealings with the rest of the world. as the post - gfc reforms rolled out internationally, the reserve bank endeavoured to tailor the reforms to suit the specific characteristics of the new zealand financial system and our regulatory philosophy. we did not adopt certain policies such as the leverage ratio and compensation policies, but in broad terms have adopted most of the components of basel iii. that said, some of these policies may be better suited to the major banking systems of the us and europe, than to new zealand ’ s relatively vanilla banking system. this raises the question of how closely we need to follow international standards in order to realise the undoubted benefits of international recognition. we are currently reviewing our regulatory experience over the post - gfc period and thinking how we might shape the new zealand framework going forward. two particular catalysts in this regard are the recent imf financial sector assessment program ( fsap