##rkfed. org / newsevents / speeches / 2020 / sin201020 2 / 5 20 / 10 / 2020 the federal reserve ’ s corporate credit facilities : why, how, and for whom - federal reserve bank of new york that in making an assessment of credit eligibility, we broadened our use of ratings to include perspectives from all nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. providing broad access also applies to the service providers that support the facilities. in early september, we announced the expansion of counterparties to the smccf, including several smaller and minority - owned broker - dealers. 13 in early october, we announced the launch of our process to re - bid our engagement with the facility ’ s investment manager. this process has begun with the ccf cash management role, and in the coming weeks and months we will re - bid the remainder of the role. together, these efforts allow us to expand the reach of our operations while making tangible progress on our commitments to diversity and inclusion, including to minority -, women -, and veteran - owned firms. let me now turn to transparency and accountability. in the spirit of these principles, we have reported to the public in near real - time our market activity, including the details of every smccf transaction. our holdings are publicly reported on a weekly basis through the fed ’ s h. 4. 1 release. every month the fed publishes the full holdings in a detailed congressional report. we also provide the attributes of the broad market index, including detailed issuer - level weights. aside from portfolio activity, we have also disclosed the ccf ’ s legal agreements. on the new york fed ’ s website, you can find all documentation with the department of treasury that governs the operation of the facilities, as well as all contracts with external vendors. on the latter, we remain committed to disclosing all fees to service providers as they are paid. impact on credit conditions as you all know, corporate credit conditions have recovered substantially from the worst strains of march. research from the new york fed estimates that, within the first three months following the ccf announcement, credit spreads retraced about 90 percent toward pre - pandemic levels, with two - thirds of the improvement occurring on facility announcement dates ( i. e., before purchases even began ), and that half of the improvement in bid - ask spreads since the peak in march occurred on the initial announcement date itself. 14 this provides strong evidence that the market found credible the design

approach we have taken for asean integration. like most regional blocs, the integration process for asean seeks to promote greater regional connectivity which will in turn expand and reinforce the region ’ s growth potential. for asean, this integration process has, however, followed its own distinct path. while asean has drawn lessons from the european experience of monetary and financial integration, the approach taken by asean is distinctly different in order to be consistent with the circumstances of the region. unlike the european union, in which the formation of a monetary union with a single currency represents a major element in realising its economic integration, the asean region had come to a decision in early 2000s, based on a study by the asean central banks that a common currency would not be pursued. this was because the asean economies did not have the preconditions to achieve such a monetary union and that the effort to achieve such preconditions would involve immense costs to the economies. it was therefore concluded that the region would instead be better served by greater regional financial integration to achieve the very same objectives of a greater shared economic prosperity for the region. additionally, in europe, the integration process is facilitated by a more centralised governance structure led by supra - national institutions while asean has built on institutional arrangements and mechanisms that would facilitate financial integration that leverages on a network of committees for the governance process. asean has also adopted a more flexible path that allows member countries to participate in the financial integration process based on the state of readiness. of particular focus is the harmonisation of regulatory standards and supervisory practices, which is reinforced by capacity building initiatives and technical assistance to bring all member states to a similar level. this inclusive approach ensures that all member states mutually benefit from the integration process. additionally, regional cooperation in the areas of surveillance arrangements, financial safety nets, and crisis management has been intensified to secure financial stability during the integration process. while much remains to be done, significant achievements in regional financial integration have already been met in recent years. notably, the launch of the asean banking integration framework ( abif ) in march 2015 and the progress made in integrating the regional capital markets and the payment and settlement systems are important milestones in this process. partnerships for a successful future while the authorities and policy makers in asean have entered into multilateral partnerships to achieve the common goal of a more promising future, so has the private sector, given the immense opportunities the more integrated region presents. this is also reinforced by the intrinsic predisposition of the dna of the region