a broad range of decisions on monetary policy. the meeting has a number of goals. one aspect of the decision - making process is to reach a decision on the ocr. this decision is often the one that gains the most public focus. for a discussion of theory and evidence, see blinder ( 2004 ), ‘ the quiet revolution : central banking goes modern ’, yale university press. for a full description of this process see richardson ( 2016 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches however it is not just today ’ s ocr, but the full outlook for interest rates, which is important for influencing today ’ s consumer and business behaviour and ultimately inflation. as a result, the governing committee also puts significant focus in its deliberations on reaching a consensus on the outlook for interest rates consistent with the objectives of the pta. the governing committee also works towards a consensus on what key messages to include in the statement. the meeting begins with the governor summarising the written advice of the mpc ( including members of the governing committee ). the governors then discuss the mpc advice, their own views, and points of difference. if there are competing viewpoints within the governing committee, the members have an opportunity to reconsider their positions. once the governing committee has reached a consensus on the range of policy considerations the governor then formalises the decision the governing committee is a collegial committee, in that it aims to reach consensus on appropriate policy settings through debate. the collegial approach is advantageous in that is helps the bank to sharpen the communication of a policy decision. if the governing committee is unable to reach a consensus view on the range of policy considerations, it will go with the majority view if one exists. if the views are balanced, the governor will have final say on the policy outcome. once a decision has been finalised, each member of the committee adopts the outcome as their own position when speaking in public, ensuring a consistent message and unified voice. reviewing our performance making a decision in a committee setting is one way the bank deals with the uncertainty faced in setting policy. another way to deal with this uncertainty is to regularly review our policy decisions and framework. this helps the bank improve its state of knowledge of the economy and learn from any past errors. a number of reviews have been conducted on the elements of the bank ’ s monetary policy framework. these include formal reviews, like in 2001 and 2007. 6 in addition, the bank often invites other central bank

a bit different from those being considered here, and the financial system will look radically different from the way it does today. already we are seeing rapid change in the financial sector. over recent years, advances in computer and communications technology, and financial market liberalisation, have led to increasing globalisation of financial markets. at the same time, banks are under pressure to keep their costs down. as a result, many banks that operate in a number of different countries are choosing to centralise activities in one regional centre rather than duplicate services in each country. we are particularly aware of this trend in new zealand as all of our banks except one are foreign owned. we are increasingly finding that these banks are using computer systems located in another country, or that parts of their new zealand business are not in fact being conducted here at all. for example, a phone call to a bank ’ s treasury may be answered by someone located in sydney rather than in wellington or auckland. or we find that particular types of transactions entered into with new zealand - based customers are being booked through another jurisdiction and do not appear on the new zealand balance sheet. these trends make it more important than ever for supervisors in the region to get together and talk about matters of common interest, both in groups like this and on a one - to - one basis. at the same time, boundaries between different types of financial institution are becoming increasingly blurred. financial conglomerates offering a wide range of financial services are becoming increasingly common. these developments are reflected in the three main themes of this conference : international standards, supervisory structures ( and by that i mean the question of whether supervision is best conducted through a so - called “ mega regulator ” or through more traditional, functionally - based, supervisory structures ), and the supervision of conglomerates. these are all very important and topical issues. i would like to talk a little about one of these themes – the development of international standards. there are two main points i would like to make. first, while there is a definite role for international standards, it is very important that they are implemented in a way that takes into account the individual circumstances of each country. secondly, it is possible to have too much of a good thing in this area. we will not necessarily be able to achieve our overall objective – a sound and efficient financial system – by adding further layers of complexity to our supervisory rule books. in fact we may weaken rather than strengthen the financial infrastructure if we go down this route. the basel committee on