tharman shanmugaratnam : banking – serving people and growing with your clients remarks by mr tharman shanmugaratnam, chairman of the monetary authority of singapore, at citibank ’ s 200th anniversary cocktail reception, singapore, 21 august 2012. * * * mr vikram pandit and friends, thank you for inviting me to this celebration of citigroup ’ s 200th anniversary. when we think about the history of economies, it ’ s sometimes best told through the history of individual firms and institutions. when we think of the history of the global economy too, the tumultuous changes that we ’ ve been through in the post - war era as well as the last hundred years, let alone 200, it ’ s again very interestingly told through the story of individual institutions – although few have survived that length of time. i think the history of citi, in its own way, tells a fascinating story of what happened in the united states and what happened in the global economy. but the exhibits that i was looking at as i walked in say something that is worth reminding ourselves of – that despite all the transformations, all the new technologies that have been brought to bear, the new management methods and regulations, the innovations in finance, banking has still at its core to be about the basics – it still has to be about providing security to ordinary people, providing new standards for global trade, about growing economies. it ’ s about serving and growing with your clients. and i find it encouraging that citi has been at the fore of this refocus on the basics of banking and finance. you ’ ve gone through a process of introspection in the last few years, because of the crisis and through the crisis, and you ’ ve come out stronger. not just because of better capital and liquidity – although that ’ s obviously a pre - requisite for strength in the post - crisis era. but more fundamentally because you ’ re asking yourselves important questions about culture – questions about responsibility, and about the source of your profitability as an enterprise that intends to be around for a long time to come. so the story of citi, and like the story of several other global institutions, is also about the recurring importance of certain basics. and the most important basics in banking have to be about serving your clients and growing with your clients, and about managing risks well. there ’ s a risk that we ’ re placing a too much importance in recent policy debates

##print to do this. in india, the critical task is to improve the business environment and build the infrastructure necessary for a strong manufacturing sector that will provide jobs and bis central bankers ’ speeches raise incomes. the new government has signalled clearly that india is open for business. in indonesia, the urgent need is to shift fiscal spending from costly food and fuel subsidies to infrastructure investment and human capital development. the newlyelected president jokowi has just announced a “ working cabinet ” and a resolve to deliver on reforms. in singapore too, we are in the midst of economic restructuring – to reduce our dependence on labour inputs, move into higher value - added activities, and increase productivity as the basis for sustained and healthy wage growth. structural reforms are often painful. they take time to bear fruit and entail significant adjustment costs in the interim. growth may slow temporarily, as margins are squeezed and resources flow from declining activities to emerging ones. restructuring is a process of creative destruction, and quite often the destruction of the old must take place before the creation of the new. but if reforms are delayed, or worse still reversed, in response to short - term pains, the long - term health of the economy suffers. countries ranging from china to singapore are facing this trade - off today, between the imperative to restructure the economy for more sustainable long - term growth and the need to minimise the transitory effects on short - term growth. governments must get businesses and workers to understand these trade - offs, and work together to press on with restructuring while smoothening its rougher edges. but avoiding reform or restructuring is not a choice. financial development and integration is an enabler for the broader structural reform effort underway in emerging asia. the financial sector is key to mobilising asia ’ s large pool of surplus savings more efficiently and channelling it to investment opportunities in the region. situated at the heart of emerging asia, singapore serves to intermediate the flows of savings and investments, helping to finance growth, manage risks, and connecting markets. singapore ’ s financial centre is able to play this role because of four factors : the credibility of its financial regulatory framework ; the competencies of its workforce ; the connectivity it has with the rest of asia ; and the collaboration mas has with the financial industry. let me say a few words about collaboration. working closely with industry is an important part of mas ’ work – be it in formulating regulatory policies or growth strategies. regulation must be appropriate to the risks they are meant