ravi menon : regional safety nets to complement global safety nets welcome remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the opening ceremony of the asean + 3 macroeconomic research office ( amro ), monetary authority of singapore, singapore, 31 january 2012. * * * director, amro, wei benhua, counselor, amro, yoichi nemoto, head, civil service and permanent secretary ( finance ) peter ong, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. good morning. genesis of the chiang mai initiative 1. twelve years ago, we took the first steps in a momentous journey that has led us here today. 2. it was the aftermath of the asian financial crisis. the crisis had ravaged several economies in the region and was a wake - up call to all of us. rapid economic growth was not enough. to sustain growth and foster stability, sound macroeconomics and strong financial supervision mattered. asian economies had to get their domestic acts together. and they did, with painstaking reforms over the last 15 years. so, when the global financial crisis hit asia in 2008 / 2009, asian economies were shaken, but did not keel over. 3. the crisis taught us another lesson : had the region better harnessed the resources it had available, it might have been in a stronger position to deal with the crisis. it was this conviction that provided the impetus for the first proposals for a regional financing arrangement. 4. and so, in may 2000, the finance ministers of asean + 3 gathered in the idyllic city of chiang mai in the highlands of northern thailand, to discuss the establishment of a network of bilateral swap agreements. thus was born the chiang mai initiative. by october 2003, thirteen bilateral swap agreements had been successfully concluded, with a combined total size of roughly us $ 35 billion. 5. in may 2007, asean + 3 finance ministers agreed to transform these bilateral agreements into a multilateral agreement that would also provide a platform for mutual surveillance and dialogue. the chiang mai initiative multilateralisation, or cmim, thus came into being in march 2010, with a war chest of us $ 120 billion. the cmim operates as a common us dollar liquidity pool. a member state facing balance - of - payments or external liquidity problems can swap its local currency for us dollars from this pool. the size of the swap can be up to a fixed multiple of its contribution. 6. today marks another important milestone in that journey – the opening

lim hng kiang : metamorphosis – singapore as a global capital for asian risk transfer official keynote address by mr lim hng kiang, minister for trade and industry and deputy chairman of the monetary authority of singapore, at the 14th singapore international reinsurance conference, singapore, 1 november 2017. * * * opening distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning to all of you. 2 i am delighted to be here with you today at the 14th singapore international reinsurance conference. 3 this year ’ s conference is significant because this is the first year the sirc becomes an annual event. it is a milestone worth commending as the sirc is now finally able to serve as a platform for annual renewals, much like the monte carlo rendez - vous and baden - baden meetings of the east. and this is just the beginning. in the longer term, i am confident that the sirc can be built up into an annual gathering of key global and regional industry practitioners, meeting to discuss key issues facing the industry, and charting out future growth directions. 4 the sirc ’ s journey reflects the transformation of the singapore reinsurance industry over 20 years – from starting out as a domestic market in the early days, to going through market liberalisation in 2000, to being a regional insurance powerhouse in 2010, and now to becoming a global insurance marketplace going into 2020. 5 singapore is now widely recognised as the leading specialty insurance and reinsurance hub in asia. we are home to : four of the top five global insurance players ; a vibrant ecosystem comprising a strong brokers ’ cluster where nine out of ten of the top global brokers are based here ; the largest captive community in asia pacific ; a growing concentration of more than thirty specialty players ; and the largest grouping of lloyd ’ s syndicates outside of london, with 26 syndicates. reflecting the increasingly important role of non - life insurance in driving overall industry growth : the share of offshore non - life insurance as a proportion of total non - life insurance premiums has increased steadily, rising from 60 % in 2010 to close to 70 % in 2016. over one - third of offshore premium flows are attributed to specialist lines of business, such as large and complex property, marine, construction and engineering, energy, financial lines and agriculture. insurance companies are gradually anchoring more global and regional positions in singapore, and most asian risks, including large reinsurance programmes and specialty risks, can now be fully placed in singapore. singapore