our " fintech 2025 " strategy, we have been expanding the fintech - savvy workforce through a series of internship and industry programmes such as the fintech career accelerator scheme ( fcas ) and the industry project masters network ( ipmn ) scheme. these programmes have nurtured more than 1, 500 young talents so far, and we are pleased to see that the 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches majority of them have continued their careers in the finance and fintech industries upon graduation. the hkma recognises the tremendous potential of collaborative efforts between the industry and academia to develop a sustainable local talent pipeline. to this end, the hkma has cooperated with various strategic partners, including bloomberg, to grow allround talent, through a series of initiatives, including the gba fintech talent initiative. when it comes to fintech and talent development, we should definitely leverage our inherent strengths and opportunities, including our connection with mainland china, especially the gba, which has been recognised as an emerging economic, financial and technology powerhouse. by capitalising on the connection with other gba cities, hong kong can tap into new opportunities by importing technology expertise, market experience and entrepreneurial flair, while enriching our own talent pool. this gba integration allows for seamless collaboration, facilitating knowledge transfer and the sharing of best practices across the boundary. in recent years, cross - boundary collaboration has become a key driver of fintech development. our flagship project, the multi - cbdc platform mbridge is a very good example. launched in partnership with the digital currency institute of the people's bank of china ( pboc ) and two other central banking institutions, mbridge aims to deploy blockchain technology to address key pain points in cross - border payments to make them cheaper, faster and more transparent. the hkma is also working closely with the pboc to establish a cross - boundary linkage between hong kong's faster payment system ( fps ) and the mainland's internet banking payment system ( ibps ) to facilitate instant small - value cross - boundary remittances around - the - clock. beyond public sector partnerships, the private sector is increasingly engaged in crossboundary collaboration, with fintech firms and financial institutions playing important roles in innovative product development, cross - boundary payments, digital banking, trade financing, and more. with the gba positioned as a hub for fintech, professionals in this field can antici

made it much easier to obtain finance or gearing. some suggest that declining real interest rates in the us and other major economies since the 1990s have increased the ease and affordability of debts and leverage. some others believed that the great moderation beginning in the mid - 1980s has nurtured a euphoric view that economic prosperity, job security, income growth and continued rise in asset prices could be taken for granted. this has encouraged both individuals and companies to take greater risks to enhance financial returns. besides, companies have an incentive to rely more on debt than equity because many countries permit the deduction of interest expenses from tax liabilities. these are all causes of the problem of over - leveraging. 4. but there is another cause of this over - leveraging problem that i would like to draw to your attention – it is market failure. by this i mean the market had been sending out wrong signals to the borrowers, be they households, companies or governments, that increased indebtedness was nothing to worry about. a prime example is the experience of greece. in the 1990s, the greek government had to pay on average 1, 550 basis points above german bunds for 10 - year funding from the capital market. however, after greece joined the eurozone, the market supplied funds to greece at interest rates very close to the triple - a rated germany. in 2005, 10 - year greek sovereign bonds were traded at only about 20 basis points above german bunds. because of this extended period of serious market failure, greek nationals and their government were under the wrong impression that they would be bis central bankers ’ speeches able to roll over their debts perpetually. of course, we now know that such an illusion could lead to catastrophic consequences. 5. the ever increasing leverage in the us and europe eventually came to an end following the burst of the us housing and credit bubbles in 2007, triggering the global financial crisis. in response, the us and other major industrial countries introduced a series of extraordinary measures from late 2008, which successfully stabilised and prevented the collapse of the global financial system. however, these extraordinary measures, including quantitative easing policies, do not seem to be very effective in stimulating economic growth and creating jobs. in the us, for example, the sharp fall in housing prices has significantly damaged household balance sheets. such kind of balance - sheet driven recession has substantially impaired the responsiveness of the economy to monetary stimulus, as consumption and credit growth will remain sluggish until household balance