national housing policy. what is the true extent of housing demand? how do we balance unsatisfied housing demand with the need for food security? does it make sense to keep on building new houses to sell to those who cannot afford them? what innovative housing finance solutions are available? here at the central bank, we are also conscious of the homeownership challenges facing our staff. it is my deep belief that “ no member of the central bank family should be without a home. ” we are, therefore, actively considering a range of options to help our staff realize their dreams of owning their own homes. beyond these walls, we are also determined to impart relevant financial education to members of the public in simple and effective ways, so that they can have a deeper appreciation and understanding of what is required for them to own a home. in this regard, the central bank has produced a number of publications seeking to educate the public on issues related to homeownership in trinidad and tobago. in 2007, we published the “ the residential mortgage market in trinidad and tobago ”. following that the nflp issued a publication entitled “ protecting your shelter : understanding property insurance ”. additionally, we introduced the mortgage market reference rate in 2011 to strengthen the transparency and disclosure regime around mortgage interest rates. this policy was prepared in consultation with the bankers association of trinidad and tobago. conclusion in closing, ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased to launch this booklet, which treats with three most important approaches to accessing shelter – purchasing of property, building a house, and entering into a rental agreement. this booklet reflects the critical inputs of various stakeholders in the mortgage market. in particular, i thank the ttmf, hmb, the hdc and the ministry of legal affairs for their unstinting support to the bank on this important initiative, and i look forward to working with them on future projects. bis central bankers ’ speeches i would also like to convey special thanks to the editorial committee and the staff of the nflp, legal and corporate communications departments for their various contributions to the production of this booklet. in the not too distant future, perhaps we can all realize our dreams of opening the doors to our own homes. and do remember a good home must be made, not bought. i thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

it was one of the first jurisdictions to implement the basel iii capital framework. 14 at the beginning of this year, all major canadian banks were expected to meet the stringent basel iii requirements as specified by osfi – six years ahead of the agreed deadline of 1 january 2019. 15 canada has also made progress in addressing the problem of too big to fail. osfi recently designated canada ’ s six largest banks as domestic systemically important banks and required that they hold 1 per cent more capital and be more closely supervised. 16 market - based finance is generally viewed as less vulnerable in canada than in other jurisdictions, and the bank of canada and our partner agencies want to keep it that way. to that end, we have participated fully in the fsb ’ s shadow banking monitoring exercise and will work together to consider how best to implement recent fsb recommendations. 17, 18 finally, we have moved forward in the implementation of the g - 20 commitments for otc derivatives. in fact, the bank of canada has joined a multilateral arrangement for the co - operative oversight of lch. clearnet ’ s swapclear, a global central counterparty based in london, england, and the dominant counterparty for clearing canadian interest rate swaps. 19 as i noted, the bank is working closely with other agencies at the federal and provincial levels to implement the new global standards within a framework that is best suited for canada. since the end of 2007, the major canadian banks have increased their common equity capital by 70 per cent, or $ 67 billion. the capital levels of canada ’ s major banks are now at roughly 9 per cent or higher. canadian banks are also moving ahead to implement the recommendations of the fsb - sponsored, private - sector - led enhanced disclosure task force. this task force is providing principles and recommendations for improved bank risk disclosures so that investors and others will have timely and useful information about the risk undertaken by banks. this report is available at : http : / / www. financialstabilityboard. org / press / pr _ 121029. pdf. the recent federal budget proposed that these banks would be subject to a system of bail - in debt that could be used to recapitalize them should their capital levels fall below the level of non - viability. this proposal represents an important step in implementing the fsb ’ s “ key attributes of effective resolution regimes for financial institutions ”. t. gravelle, t. grieder and s. lavoie