hu xiaolian : law on real rights of the people ’ s republic of china speech by ms hu xiaolian, deputy governor of the people ’ s bank of china, at the symposium on judicial interpretation of law on real rights, beijing, 27 may 2010. * * * i am delighted to attend the symposium on judicial interpretation of the law on real rights of the people ’ s republic of china organized by the supreme people ’ s court and the people ’ s bank of china with the support of international finance corporation. we have gathered here today to discuss the experiences of reforming the legal system on security interest, security interests in personal property and innovative practices on warranty of titles, so as to promote the drafting of judicial interpretation of the law on real rights part four on security interest. secured credit accounted for more than 80 percent of china ’ s aggregate credit. therefore, reform and innovation of legal framework concerning security interest is an important part of financial infrastructure. security interest in personal property is one of the most frequently discussed area in property law system and it is closely related to economic development and restructuring. based on the four pillars of an ideal framework of security interest in personal property, namely wide range of eligible collateral, a centralized registration and public display system, well - defined rule of priority and streamlined process for implementation, the pbc put forward 8 proposals, i. e. making account receivables and inventory eligible collaterals, establishing a floating charge system, protecting bona fide purchase, expanding party autonomy, defining the rule of priority in a clear - cut manner, designating the institution for the registration of account receivables, defining the principles for the registration of floating charge and rules for the registration and charging of security interest, which have already been written into the law on real rights enacted on march 16, 2007. the launch of the law on real rights is of great significance to the development of the credit market, prevention and mitigation of financial risks and easing the financing difficulties of smes. sme financing is a worldwide challenge, and it is more difficult in developing countries. out of multiple problems such as large smes ’ exposure to operational risks and lack of financial transparency and banks ’ difficulties in managing lending to smes, the lack of legitimate collateral is the real bottleneck. approximately 70 percent of the credit collateral received by commercial banks in china is real estate, while more than 70 percent of the assets of smes are account receivables and inventory. it was estimated

31 march 2022 governor ’ s speech at the 61st annual meeting of the central bank of iceland, 31 march 2022 madame prime minister, other ministers, chairman of the supervisory board, and other honoured guests : this is my third annual meeting as governor of the central bank, but the first one that has taken place in the presence of guests. at the first two meetings, fewer than ten people were present and there was nothing on the tables to quench their thirst but hand sanitiser. yes, i have twice delivered annual meeting speeches to an audience comprising the prime minister and the supervisory board chairman and very few others. they are a wonderful audience, to be sure, but it is undeniably more fun to address a full auditorium. but i will take the liberty of saying that i believe those speeches delivered their message effectively. both of them focused on the covid - 19 pandemic and its implications, and the merger of the financial supervisory authority and the central bank. it is hardly surprising that these two topics should have dominated the bank ’ s work over the past two years. in addition, the central bank turned 60 in 2021, but we were unable to celebrate that milestone because of the pandemic. the pandemic delivered a massive shock to the economy when iceland ’ s largest export sector evaporated more or less overnight and unemployment soared to nearly 12 %. with a joint endeavour, the bank and the government faced down the challenge, focusing on households with targeted support measures and interest rate cuts. the bank also used its international reserves to maintain exchange rate stability throughout the pandemic, thereby supporting the implementation of wage agreements. the economic recovery is now well underway, and unemployment has subsided. but even though the pandemic is more or less over, the fallout from it is still in evidence – fallout that was not entirely foreseen. consumer demand has shifted worldwide. the household is now a workplace and a gathering place to a greater degree than before, and people have chosen not only to kit out their homes more fully but also to move into larger space. at the same time, production has been disrupted in various ways, and delays in shipping over longer routes have led to shortages of a range of goods. and many people who lost their jobs during the pandemic have remained outside the labour force even though new jobs have been created, although this has not been the pattern in iceland. it appears that a labour shortage is in the offing throughout the west