guy debelle : funding australia ’ s future remarks by mr guy debelle, assistant governor ( financial markets ) of the reserve bank of australia, at the launch of funding australia ’ s future, the australia centre for financial studies, sydney, 10 july 2013. * * * thanks to chris stewart for his help with these remarks. the australian centre for financial studies has put together a very interesting and timely body of work on an important topic. 1 it is a good example of a collaborative effort that encompasses academic research with a very applied focus. the financial sector plays a unique role in the functioning of the economy. it acts as the intermediary between the myriad saving and spending decisions of households, businesses and government, both domestic and foreign. in doing so, it is unlike other parts of the economy. as i ’ ve said before, the financial sector is not at the end of a production chain producing something which directly generates utility for society. 2 rather, it is a critical link along the way, the oil that keeps the economy ticking over. when the oil dries up, the economic engine starts to malfunction and can ultimately grind to a halt. so in that sense, the set of papers that we have here tonight gets right to the heart of the issue of how well that oil is working and whether there ’ s any risk of it drying up in the future. there ’ s clearly been a lot going on in the global financial sector over the past few years. at various times, some channels of financial intermediation have actually seized up, much more so offshore than onshore. so the question at the heart of these set of papers is well worth posing. it is also very timely as the financial sector is still undergoing considerable change as it adjusts to the lessons learned from the turmoil of recent years and the regulatory changes that have come along with that. today, i will try to give a quick overview of the work that has been done as part of this project, and talk a bit about where to from here. but the main point i would like to get across is that you should take the time to read each of these three papers. they each provide plenty of food for thought. before getting to the papers individually, i ’ ll step back and talk about the project as a whole. the aims of the funding australia ’ s future project are to : • assess the future demand for and supply of finance in australia ; • consider the interaction between different participants in the financial

is one which is very much in a state of flux at the moment, namely the implementation of the vast regulatory reform agenda. a holistic view of how the australian and global financial system is being transformed by this would be very welcome and is much needed. finally, a particularly useful outcome of this project is the bringing together of many of the key participants in the sector to discuss the issues and providing a fruitful forum with which to do so. i thank the acfs for the efforts in coordinating the work and wish the participants luck in this regard as well as again commending the amount of work already accomplished. as i said earlier, my main recommendation is that you spare the time to read these three papers. bis central bankers ’ speeches