information on the type and quality of claims underlying structured products would also be helpful. at the same time, i would like to emphasise that ratings are no substitute for a broad - based risk assessment by investors, who should develop their own risk analysis, as randall kroszner from the us fed recently pointed out. thus, investors will have to weigh the benefits of certain instruments against the cost of acquiring the data and expertise necessary to assess them properly. sellers may respond by putting instruments on offer that are less complex and more transparent. as regards the transparency of hedge funds, it is essential to strengthen market discipline and to enable counterparties to make a correct assessment the risks involved in dealing with hedge funds. in may 2007, the financial stability forum published a list of recommendations on hedge funds to address potential systemic risk, which is clearly a step in the right direction. the recommendations include strengthening the management of counterparty exposures and the development of enhanced sound practice standards for hedge fund managers. the g7 have endorsed these recommendations. a group of uk - based hedge funds under the leadership of sir andrew large have announced plans to introduce standards based on the industry ’ s best practices. i think this is a very promising project. in the us, the government has launched two working groups on hedge fund transparency. we expect to see their recommendations by the end of this year. concerning sovereign wealth funds greater transparency should be in the interests of the investing countries as well, because they would also benefit from a reduction of uncertainty in the financial markets. moreover, a commitment to best practices would reassure the target countries and could help to prevent protectionist tendencies. the dialogue between investing and receiving countries should definitely be intensified. the formulation of and adherence to best practices in that area seems to be a promising route to follow, possibly with the involvement of the imf and the oecd. in any event, we should not call into question the principle of free capital movement and should avoid resorting to protectionism. last but not least, i would also like to point to the lack of aggregate statistics on credit risk transfer. transactions are mostly carried out over - the - counter. comprehensive and reliable data, say, on the overall volumes of transactions, exist only for some market segments. in particular, data on the cdo market are far from sufficient. in other areas, for example, with regard to cdss, different sources publish figures that are difficult to compare. they are often based on surveys carried out by the private

tiff macklem : the imperative for public engagement remarks ( delivered virtually ) by mr tiff macklem, governor of the bank of canada, at the federal reserve bank of kansas city jackson hole symposium, jackson hole, wyoming, 27 august 2020. * * * introduction i last spoke at jackson hole in 2005. then, the world had been dealing with a frightening coronavirus called sars. and my topic was the sea change in central bank communications and transparency in the greenspan era. today, we are discussing the policy response to a more widespread and contagious coronavirus, and my topic is the need for a second sea change in central bank communications — from transparency with markets to more engagement with the public. we ’ ve started, but we need to accelerate. in a nutshell, we need to spend more effort speaking and listening to the citizens we serve. diversifying our engagement improves our capacity to make better policy decisions and enhances our legitimacy as public institutions. that is more important now than ever as we grapple with covid 19 and its harsh economic consequences, which affect everyone. and it will be critical in the future as we tackle the impact of structural changes to our economies arising from the legacy of covid 19 and those it is amplifying, including digitalization, debt and inequality. while the sars pandemic didn ’ t have lasting economic impacts in 2005, the 2008 us sub - prime mortgage crisis certainly did. our economies eventually recovered, but societal scars remain. when too - big - to - fail global banks were bailed out in the crisis — and struggling homeowners weren ’ t — it stoked the belief that the system is rigged and that globalization benefits a few at the expense of many. this contributed to the broader decline of trust in public institutions and experts and a rise in political populism — trends that affect our jobs as central bankers. 1 the last 15 years have also seen a profound change in how information is shared, consumed and debated. the internet slashed the cost of communication. this disrupted traditional media and led a growing segment of the public to get their news from alternative channels and social media. many had hoped that the democratization of information would make us all better informed. sadly, too often that ’ s not the case. while the internet and social media have vastly broadened access to information, they are also awash with misinformation, echo chambers and conspiracy theories — often pushed by bots and trolls,