its structure and strengthen the delivery of its director training program, so that it may better meet the increased demands placed on directors in this current environment. the continual efforts by industry practitioners, investors and regulators to improve corporate governance have enabled singapore to stay ahead of the field. the world economic forum's global competitiveness report 2009, for instance, ranked singapore first in corporate governance standards in asia. lessons from the crisis in the aftermath of crises, corporate governance standards and practices often come under scrutiny. for instance, after the enron / worldcom failures, critics pointed to the lack of independence of auditors and audit committees, and to deficiencies in accounting standards. after the bursting of the dot. com bubble, attention was drawn to the severe conflicts of interest by brokers and analysts. the recent financial crisis has been no different. indeed, reviews by international bodies and national agencies have found that weak corporate governance played a role in this crisis. for instance, the oecd report on " the corporate governance lessons from the financial crisis " 1 noted that " the financial crisis can be, to an important extent, attributed to failures and weaknesses in corporate governance arrangements which did not serve their purpose to safeguard against excessive risk taking in a number of financial services companies. " while many of the corporate governance failures that have been uncovered so far affected financial companies, many of the structural weaknesses may also be common to large and complex listed firms. it is therefore relevant for boards of other companies to reflect on these findings. let me briefly highlight a few common themes. the first relates to the quality and composition of boards. research shows that although having a good balance of directors with a range of skills and experience that are relevant to the business of the firm is an essential foundation for good corporate governance, this was also often the most neglected. a number of reports2 also found weaknesses in the implementation of effective risk management. in many cases, risk was not managed on an enterprise - wide basis and boards were not fully apprised of the level of risk facing the company. overseas regulators are now reviewing the role of boards in providing guidance on the alignment of corporate strategy with risk - appetite, as well as on appropriate internal structures in risk management. not surprisingly, remuneration practices have attracted the most public attention. the alignment of executive and board remuneration with the longer term interests of the company and its shareholders is a widely accepted corporate governance principle. nonetheless, compensation practices that rewarded staff handsomely for short - term gains

christian noyer : central banking – the way forward? opening speech by mr christian noyer, governor of the bank of france and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the international symposium of the bank of france “ central banking : the way forward? ”, paris, 7 november 2014. * * * mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen, [ je vais parler anglais pour remercier la majorite d ’ etrangers presents ici, une interpretation simultanee etant assuree en francais. ] i am delighted to welcome you to paris for this banque de france symposium. this recurrent event brings together a large number of experts from the world over : not only central bankers – of whom there are more than a hundred in this room, representing all five continents – but also academics, practitioners and members of financial institutions, governments and international organizations alike. this extraordinary mix of participants will surely provide some answers to the open question concerning the future of central banks, as indicated by the title of this symposium, “ central banking : the way forward? ” central banks have been considered the only game in town. might the very high expectations placed on them backfire in the future? yet, we all know that central bankers do not act in a vacuum when pursuing monetary and financial stability. first, monetary policy interacts with fiscal policy, the legacy of which has resulted in high public debt in many countries after the great recession. this is the topic of our first session chaired by my esteemed colleague, haruhiko kuroda, governor of the bank of japan. second, central banks and financial regulators, which work closely together, have had to adapt to important changes in financial intermediation, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis. my dear european neighbour, jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank, will chair the second session dedicated to this question. third, globalization means that cross - border flows have to be taken into account and raises the question of the scope and limits of policy autonomy, not only in smaller open economies, but also in larger ones because of spillovers and the resulting feedback effects. this will be tackled in the third session chaired by my good friend, jacob frenkel, president of both jpm chase international and the g30 board of trustees. last, to wrap up all aspects, what better than a panel on the future of the policy mix, including