in singapore. towards becoming a global marketplace our vision is for singapore ’ s insurance industry to become a global marketplace by 2020, with the ability to accept not just regional, but global risks. to achieve this, we are pursuing four strategies with clearly laid out initiatives. • first, to increase supply - side capacity, in both volume and expertise. • second, to promote insurance demand, both locally and in the asia - pacific. • third, to develop a true marketplace, where sellers and buyers come together to negotiate and trade risks. • fourth, to foster a conducive business environment. increase capacity let me begin with our plans to increase supply - side capacity. bis central bankers ’ speeches we are focused on increasing the quality and diversity of underwriting expertise here. having expert underwriters on the ground enables insurers to be more responsive to their clients and make underwriting decisions quickly. they will also have a better understanding of the market environment and underlying risks. recent events highlight the need to build up a deeper understanding of asian risks. for example, prior to the devastating floods of 2011, thailand had not been viewed as catastrophe - prone. the scale of the floods and the knock - on effects of natural catastrophes on global supply chains came as a rude surprise. the floods damaged more than 7000 industrial and manufacturing plants in 40 separate provinces. this affected countries with significant manufacturing capabilities in thailand, most notably japan. the majority of the insurance losses therefore came not from property damage, but from business interruption claims arising from the disruption to manufacturing and supply chains. it is therefore important that insurers have senior experts in the region who understand asia ’ s multi - faceted and inter - connected risks. this will enable the industry to better price and underwrite regional risks, and achieve sustained growth. mas will seek to increase the depth of expertise in singapore by continuing to work with existing players to build up their specialty and reinsurance underwriting and broking capabilities as well as expand their regional hubs. mas will also seek to increase breadth in the industry by promoting growth in emerging business lines, such as cyber risks. lack of data is a key hurdle for cyber insurance in asia. mas is working with industry to create a test - bed for cyber risks where insurers and potential clients can come together to simulate loss events. • cyber insurers will be able to generate sets of valuable loss data and raise awareness about the value of specialty cyber insurance cover. • clients will get

way the banks should normally have to deal with only one regulator, which should make their lives simpler. but, like the mpfa in respect of mpf business, the sfc will remain in the driving seat ; and if problems arise in respect of a bank's securities business, the sfc will have the right to conduct its own investigation and to exercise disciplinary powers. there is much more that i could say on the subject of banks'securities business, but that is perhaps best left to another speech. i will conclude, therefore, by noting again that economic pressures in the banking industry are driving banks to try to diversify their income sources. this is contributing to erosion of the boundaries between different types of financial business. a consequence of this is that new approaches to financial regulation are also required. what we have done in hong kong is to come up with a pragmatic approach that tries to strike a balance between institutional and functional supervision. we believe that, with the goodwill and cooperation of all concerned, this can, and will, be made to work.