that are crucial for the well - functioning of malaysia ’ s financial market such as professionalism, integrity, transparency, competition and good internal governance. in addition to this, the bank also enhanced standards for corporate governance, strengthened requirements for klibor rate setting and introduced a code of conduct for the malaysian wholesale financial markets. these are a few recent examples of initiatives aimed at promoting greater professionalism, integrity and quality service to the public, consistent with the hippocratic oath to ‘ do no harm '. to add seriousness in upholding ethical standards and integrity, beginning 1 january 2018, a strengthened transparency framework for our enforcement actions will also be introduced to serve as an added deterrence against misconduct. the recent findings published by the financial services professional board, based on a 2016 survey of malaysian banking professionals, are sobering. 23 % of respondents observed that supervisors reward behaviour derived through unethical means. another 15 % expressly stated that they would act unethically when not being watched or monitored. these disheartening results are a clear manifestation that our journey is far from over and that, much more needs to be done to further strengthen the character within the banking community. there are economic consequences related to ethical choices. it is not a subject of discussion reserved only for the morally enlightened. the consequences are real. they can be dire and they can be expensive. the 2008 financial crisis alone cost the u. s. economy more than usd22 trillion. misconduct costs by banks globally have exceeded usd320 billion since 2008, with usd42 billion incurred in 2016 alone. at the institutional level, there should be a ‘ clear tone from the top ’ that unethical behaviour will not be tolerated. this culture of ‘ zero tolerance ’ for unethical behaviour should permeate across all levels of the organisation, including in the process of recruitment, retention and remuneration. as a community, we cannot possibly expect ethical behaviour to be burnished if we persist in retaining, hiring or rewarding people who had acted otherwise. our work environment should also evolve, making it conducive and safe for individuals to speak up on ethically questionable practices. encouraging conversation about ethical behaviour in the workplace can go a long way in empowering all layers in the organisation to serve as an ethical beacon. this can significantly reduce the probability and occurrence of unethical conduct. the third is calling. we should marvel at the deep sense of purpose and identity contained in the medical profession. one

patrick honohan : the importance of sound information in assessing the health of the irish banking sector address by mr patrick honohan, governor of the central bank of ireland, to the chartered accountants ireland, dublin, 23 november 2010. * * * there is a letter in the archives of the world bank in washington dc on the letterhead of the shelbourne hotel, dublin, dated saturday, june 7, 1958. benjamin king writes back to headquarters on his mission to ireland. this was the first ever such mission sent by either of the bretton woods institutions ( the world bank and the international monetary fund ) since ireland had joined both of them in the previous year. king was in dublin at the invitation of the secretary of the department of finance, t. k. whitaker, who had asked the world bank to help by carrying out a review of the irish economy with a view to a possible borrowing programme for ireland from the bank. but king found that much analysis had already been carried out by the irish administration. indeed, he had been perusing a draft of the document that would change the course of irish policy towards its economic engagement with the rest of the world. “ i have asked whitaker ”, he writes, “ to send you by airmail his report “ economic development ”. it is over 200 pages and seems pretty good to me. ” and it ’ s not just a document of factual analysis, but addresses challenging policy issues. he notes that “ it is also quite tough ( in a velvet - glove sort of way ) with some old - established practices ”. with this document, king believes that ireland would be already “ halfway toward [ having ] a sensible program ”. ireland did not in fact borrow immediately from the world bank but eventually it borrowed a total of us $ 150 million between 1969 and 1975 for a variety of projects, ranging from power generation, to agriculture, to education. the last world bank loan to ireland, to support the then icc ( now bosi – alas closing at the end of this year ) in promoting regional development and employment, was approved in august 1975. the resonances from this 52 - year old letter are particularly sonorous this week, as an imf team scrutinizes another irish plan and maps out another international programme of borrowing by ireland ( with the additional support on this occasion of european institutions ). the 1958 economic policy shift launched a move towards increasing internationalization and – to use a word not yet in use back then