joseph yam : speech at the asian development bank annual meeting speech by mr joseph yam, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the 33rd asian development bank annual meeting, held in chiang mai, on 6 - 8 may 2000. * * * mr president, i would like first to express my gratitude to the people and government of thailand for their generous hospitality in hosting this year ’ s annual meeting of the asian development bank. i would also like to thank the bank ’ s management and staff for the excellent arrangements for this meeting. mr president, notwithstanding the devastating asian financial turmoil of 1997 - 98, the development record of asia in recent times has been impressive. the asian development bank has played an important role in making this impressive record possible and i must, in this first annual meeting of the bank in the new millennium, record my appreciation of the good work that the bank, since its establishment, has done for our region. but like everything else, and everybody else, the bank could have done even better for asia had it been able to foresee, and promote policies capable of pre - empting the financial crisis which has brought so much suffering and disruption to the region. in our enjoyment of the asian miracle, we, whether within or outside the region, were all oblivious of the risks associated with the explosion of international finance that we have recently been experiencing. but as markets attained a global dimension, encouraged by financial liberalisation and the advance of information technology, they became far less tolerant of weaknesses than before, and the markets responded to weaknesses with harsh punishments, which many considered grossly unfair. but this is the reality that we face. and if we are to continue to benefit from the greatly enhanced efficiency of global financial markets in international financial intermediation - a process that has contributed so much to development - we have to get on with the necessary reforms. these include the domestic structural reforms to the financial and corporate sectors, to make sure that we can manage the risks and cope with the volatility that are part of that efficiency. and, to the extent that consensus can be reached, they also include measures to strengthen the international financial architecture. thus, with some encouragement from the bank and from others, and more importantly, urged on by the brute forces of the market, significant progress has been made in the domestic structural reforms of individual economies in the region. i applaud the progress and the achievements ; and i sympathise with the pain and suffering which they

by the swiss authorities served as a reminder that, in the event of the failure of a large group, sufficient alternatives must be available. secondly, the action of resolution authorities must remain sufficiently predictable. in this context, ecb, srb and eba quickly reaffirmed in a joint communique the sequence that would prevail in the event of a bail - in within the banking union, thereby helping to strengthen understanding ( among banks, authorities, markets ) on how the bail - in instrument would be used. finally, the crises of 2023 showed how sudden liquidity withdrawals can very quickly weaken a credit institution. the speed with which the depositors of silicon valley bank depositors withdrew their assets was unprecedented. this reminds us of the need to provide a decisive response, within the framework of the european banking union, to the issue of liquidity provision in resolution, which to date remains insufficiently addressed. dear ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to the end of my talk. the banking sector has weathered the recent storm on financial markets quite well, but weather predictions continue to be far from rosy. so, precautionary measures should stay on the top of both regulators'and banks'minds. the tightening of monetary policy has to some extent " normalised " the interest rate environment, which forms the setting of your core businesses, retail and corporate 4 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches deposit taking and lending, but the sheer speed of adjustments to interest rates coupled to the unstable macro - economic and geopolitical conditions will continue to prove challenging. the bread and butter interest income business of co - operative banks might have become more profitable but credit, interest rate and liquidity risks, as well as risk culture in general deserve particular attention, more than ever. enjoy your meal and i wish you a wonderful rest of the evening and an interesting set of meetings here in the beautiful city of ghent. 5 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches