the debt market has grown more than 3 - fold since 1998. we have attracted some foreign issuers, and our own corporates have tapped international markets from here. however, we remain largely a market with domestic focus. we therefore need to do more to make our markets deeper, more liquid and internationally established. the prospects are good. asian countries are now cooperating more closely to develop domestic bond markets. as corporates in our region expand their businesses to take advantage of the recovery, they will need more funding. we also see a clear trend towards more derivative products being structured here as investors look for better yields or protection. all these factors will help us to continue to grow our debt markets in size and sophistication as a major debt hub. in the equity market, the global trend five years ago seemed to be towards cross - border alliances and linkages. this has generally not worked out, except to a limited extent in europe. indeed, the last few years have been very difficult for stock markets world - wide. however, this year things seem to have turned. in singapore, stock market activity reached record levels in recent months. activity should stay strong, because of portfolio inflows in anticipation of the economic pickup next year. the increase in interest in the sgx and in listings on the exchange, from companies having substantial operations in china has been encouraging. there is also a new interest among regional exchanges to explore alliances with each other. we have maintained our position as a leading global fx centre, and this has opened up opportunities that were less apparent in 1998. one area is commodities trading. financial institutions are now also major commodities players, with more financial products being structured based on commodity prices as the underlying risk. these structuring and trading teams are usually in the same business units as the fx experts, a number of whom are based in singapore. in investment banking, for some time all the interest seemed concentrated in north east asia. south korea had recovered from the asian financial crisis faster than the rest, and china was creating great excitement. however, strong investor interest in recent deals in southeast asia indicates a revival of regional m & a activity. many singapore firms have interest in expanding overseas, possibly through an acquisition strategy. with the economic recovery firms are likely to increase their capital expenditure, while countries will invest more in infrastructure and other big - ticket projects. this should foster further pickup in the syndicated loan market and asian dollar market. one particularly successful area is wealth management, and its

ravi menon : financial cooperation between china and singapore congratulatory remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the inauguration of icbc singapore rmb clearing bank, singapore, 2 april 2013. * * * mr jiang jianqing, icbc chairman, mr dai bing, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. 1. i am happy to join you at this morning ’ s ceremony inaugurating the industrial & commercial bank of china as the renminbi clearing bank in singapore. 2. today ’ s event marks a key milestone in the financial cooperation between china and singapore. it is the fruit of a strong and substantive collaboration between the monetary authority of singapore and the people ’ s bank of china. • mas extended qualifying full bank ( qfb ) privileges to icbc and bank of china in october 2012 as part of the china - singapore free trade agreement. • pbc then named icbc singapore as the rmb clearing bank in singapore. • last month, mas and pbc doubled the size of their bilateral currency swap facility from rmb150 billion to rmb300 billion. the scope of the swap facility was expanded to allow mas to provide rmb liquidity to banks in singapore. 3. singapore is the first regional financial centre outside greater china to have a rmb clearing bank. offshore rmb activities in singapore will be underpinned by the strong and growing trade flows between the region and china. • singapore ’ s bilateral trade with china exceeds us $ 80 billion. • trade between asean and china is at a record us $ 400 billion. • this large and growing cross border trade will fuel greater rmb trade settlement activity in singapore over time. the rmb clearing bank will be an important channel for rmb liquidity to circulate between singapore and china. 4. singapore ’ s deep and liquid capital markets will be able to support rmb financing needs in the region. we have already seen companies here issuing rmb - denominated bonds. the singapore exchange has announced that it is ready to quote, trade, clear and settle rmb - denominated securities. we can expect the range of rmb - denominated product offerings to expand, as regional corporates raise rmb financing through bond issuances and equity listings, to tap on the strong investor base in the region. 5. there will also be strong and growing demand for rmb trade services. there is a critical mass of