joseph yam : mortgage - backed securities programme in hong kong speech by mr joseph yam, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the signing ceremony of the bauhinia mbs programme of the hong kong mortgage corporation limited, hong kong, 30 october 2003. * * * ladies and gentlemen, let me first offer a very warm welcome to all of you to this signing ceremony to mark the successful conclusion of the second series of mortgage - backed securities issued under the bauhinia mbs programme of the hong kong mortgage corporation. the issue size this time is hk $ 3 billion. it is the largest residential mbs issue in hong kong, so far. ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, the hkmc is committed to developing a deep and liquid mbs market in hong kong as an effective means for enhancing the availability of competitive mortgage finance in hong kong for homebuyers. the success of this initiative will also benefit both the financial market and the future development of the hkmc as a major financial institution. for the financial market, mbs provide an efficient channel for long - term funds from the capital market to supplement bank financing of long - term mortgage loans. they also help banks to better manage the liquidity and maturity mismatch risks inherent in their mortgage business. development of an active mbs market will broaden the product range of the financial market and further develop hong kong ’ s role as an international financial centre. for the hkmc, mbs provide an important source of funding and an effective tool for managing the risks of its fast - expanding mortgage portfolio. in a short span of six years, the corporation ’ s mortgage pool has increased to over hk $ 32 billion, which is funded by debts of a similar amount. momentum is expected to pick up further with the planned acquisition of between hk $ 16 billion and hk $ 20 billion of mortgage portfolios before the end of 2004. the proceeds from issuance of mbs help relieve the funding pressure of the mortgage purchase programme. the securitisation process also enables the corporation to reduce the prime - hibor basis risk and the refinancing risk of its mortgage portfolio. there are in fact two mbs programmes that have been developed by the hkmc. we made a modest start in october 1999 with the launch of the guaranteed mortgage - backed pass - through securitisation programme. there were a total of eight series of mbs issued under that programme, with an aggregate amount of about hk

olli rehn : living with populism - reflections on the economy and democracy in europe speech by mr olli rehn, governor of the bank of finland, at " waiting for populism? problems of interpretation and policy issues : four lectures and a conversation ", central bank of malta, valletta, 9 may 2019. * * * accompanying slides of the speech. ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, let me first wish you a very good schuman day – or europe day. it is a great pleasure and honour to meet and talk with you today. it is indeed appropriate that precisely on the schuman day 2019 we discuss one of the major political developments in europe of our time, the rise of political populism. all over europe we are currently living with populism, which calls for broader reflections on the economy and democracy, and i will discuss these matters today in my talk. these issues are also of paramount importance for central banking. that ’ s why i want to warmly thank the central bank of malta for organising this conference and governor mario vella for taking the initiative to create an interdisciplinary european research network to look into the notion of populism in central bank communication. populism has become a normal part of the democratic process in today ’ s europe, and as democratically - minded people we have to recognise the role it plays. why does this matter for central banking? because the central banks, including the ecb and euro area central banks, do not live in a vacuum, but are reflections of the society at large – independent reflections and actors, i should add. in this context, let me refer to joseph schumpeter, one of the greatest economists of all time, who wrote : “ the condition of the monetary system of a nation is a symptom of all its conditions. " 1 slide 2. schumpeter ’ s triangle what schumpeter said about a nation, goes today as well for europe as a whole, for our economic and monetary union. what happens to our money, is a reflection of the state of our union and its economy, of the society and the democracy. so we have to take a broad view. 1. let me start by pondering the root causes of populism. pinpointing a single underlying reason for this development is impossible. however, there seems to be broad agreement that a combination of increased economic insecurity, perceived threats to identity i. e