lee hsien loong : financial sector liberalisation - going global speech by mr lee hsien loong, chairman of the board of directors of the monetary authority of singapore and deputy prime minister, at the monetary authority of singapore work plan seminar, held in singapore on 3 april 2000. * 1. * * introduction since 1997, while the asian region was undergoing a traumatic crisis followed by a sharp recovery, the international financial scene has not stood still. financial innovation has continued unabated, institutions are rationalising and consolidating, and transactions and services are rapidly going electronic and online. singapore has been directly affected by these global trends. it is as well that we pressed on with our financial liberalisation programme despite the crisis. mas and the industry have had a busy two years. it is timely now to take stock of what has been achieved, and map out the tasks ahead. our objective has been to open up the financial sector, progressively but decisively. we have aimed to allow market forces greater free play, get investors to take full responsibility for their decisions along with the outcomes, and shift mas ’ emphasis to setting the framework and upholding standards of integrity and supervision. ultimately, we aim to become a vibrant and dynamic global financial hub. how much of this vision have we so far realised? 2. financial sector reform - concrete changes we have made many concrete changes across the financial services industry. in banking, we have increased competition by introducing qualifying full bank privileges, issuing more restricted banking licences and providing greater flexibility for offshore banks. local banks have greater strategic autonomy and operational flexibility now that the limit on foreign shareholdings has been removed and several regulations revised. we have also opened up the stock market. the singapore exchange was the first in the asia - pacific to both demutualise and merge the cash and derivatives activities. sgx has made its listing requirements more flexible to cater to growth enterprises. we have loosened up rules on foreign listings in singapore dollars, reduced capital requirements for securities firms, and eased other onerous restrictions. by 1 january 2001, commissions will be completely freed up. access to trade on sgx, which is already being opened, will be fully liberalised a year later. in the debt market, we relaxed restrictions on borrowing s $, to enable foreign players to issue s $ bonds. we set up the approved bond intermediary scheme to encourage the origination, placement and management of debt issues in singapore. we also increased the issuance of

philipp hildebrand : thoughts on asset management in switzerland summary of a speech by mr philipp hildebrand, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the swiss funds association, berne, 28 march 2006. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national banka€™s website ( www. snb. ch ) * * * summary asset management is an important source of earnings for banks in switzerland. the financial industry, in turn, is the largest sector in the swiss economy and of crucial importance for economic development. assuming that the world economy stays on its expansionary course, global assets will continue to grow strongly. moreover, the rapid increase in the volume of accessible information means that clients are often better informed. it is also giving rise to a broader product range and generating tougher competition and cost pressure amongst providers. these trends will bring about far - reaching changes in asset management over the medium term. money market, equity and bond investments managed on a moderately active basis often fail to pay the consistently above - average yield that would warrant their costs. they will probably lose ground to passively managed, inexpensive products. substantially better performance will be essential for the traditional products that remain. alternative investments, too, will benefit from the structural changes. however, this area will continue to be affected by the limited supply of exceptional portfolio management expertise. asset management in switzerland compares fairly well on an international scale in terms of performance and operational efficiency. however, the industry must lose no time in tackling the restructuring that is needed, particularly in the traditional segments. in the area of alternative products, switzerland has admittedly been successful in the fund of funds business. it is to be hoped that its financial industry will build on this success and become even more of a centre of excellence for alternative investments too.