ravi menon : skills for the future welcome remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the institute of banking and finance distinction evening, singapore, 29 september 2017. * * * mr lim swee say, minister for manpower members of the ibf council, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ibf distinction evening 2017. tonight, we are honoured to have mr lim swee say, minister for manpower, as our guest - ofhonour. minister lim, as you know, has been a lifelong passionate advocate for helping our workers build up their skills, grow in their jobs, and contribute to the economy. he will speak later in the evening on these issues – issues that are close to his heart – and also to all of us as part of the ibf community. the global economy is in a better place this year compared to last year. let us take stock of where we are. the singapore economy is on track to achieve slightly higher growth this year compared to 2016. and so is the financial sector. for the first five years after the global financial crisis, our financial sector grew twice as fast as the overall economy. last year, for the first time, the financial sector grew slower than the overall economy, weighed down by weaker lending growth to the region. this year, the financial sector is expected to grow by 2. 5 - 3. 5 %, slightly faster than the 2. 03. 0 % expected for the overall economy. beyond the headline growth rates, singapore has also made significant strides as an international financial centre in recent years. we are consistently ranked among the top five financial centres in the world, sometimes even top three. singapore, along with hong kong, remains the dominant centre in the asia - pacific for offshore lending, debt markets, and derivatives trading. our role as the leading regional hub has grown in re - insurance and infrastructure finance. we have a global position in foreign exchange, private banking, and asset management. but we have quite some way to go in the equities market space, beyond of course reits where we are still asia ’ s largest hub. financial services are a major export engine for the singapore market. singapore runs a surplus in financial services trade. this surplus has grown by 40 % since 2011. singapore has been gaining market share in the imports of financial services by several major economies including china, india, and asean. the medium - term prospects for the financial sector are good. 1 /

we will not just learn to thrive in a digital world ; we will also learn digitally! and so, to promote the learning of skills under the new standard, besides the usual training programmes, ibf is developing learn @ ibf, a mobile learning app that will provide simple and concise information on these topics. you will get to see a preview of this app after this. i want to acknowledge our partners who helped to make this happen : amazon, facebook, ibm, luma and rainmaking innovation as well as our institutes of higher learning, training providers and of course, all of you, our financial institutions who are part of the ibf community. they provided and reviewed the content that will be posted on the app. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches the next step is for financial institutions to work with their staff, particularly those in jobs undergoing transformation, to help them explore possible pathways and acquire the skills they need for the future. ultimately, whether we transform and succeed will depend on our finance professionals taking ownership of their own professional development. ibf will continue to introduce new platforms to help our finance professionals do just this. ibf has recently launched the myskills portfolio. this is an online tool which can be a useful resource for individuals to plan and manage their learning. myskills portfolio allows individuals to track their training progress and receive programme recommendations based on their training goals. it also functions as a repository of training records. most of all, ibf is about building a community. today we celebrate our latest cohort of ibf fellows and distinguished fellows. these individuals have contributed their time and expertise, not just on policy ideas, but also as speakers, trainers and mentors to our young finance professionals. all of you compete vigorously when it comes to business – and that is good. but together we have created something unique here in singapore ’ s financial sector : a shared vision for building up our capabilities ; working towards the greater good ; looking out for one another and bringing people along. and we must bring our people along. this is what will help ensure that our financial sector grows from strength to strength ; that we create good job opportunities for singaporeans ; that we build up skills and raise standards across the industry ; and that all those who work in the industry enjoy the fruits of growth. thank you once again for your strong support, and i wish everyone an enjoyable evening. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches