ravi menon : introducing mark carney introductory remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the 2014 monetary authority of singapore lecture, singapore, 17 november 2014. * * * mr mark carney, governor, bank of england, deputy prime minister and chairman, mas, tharman shanmugaratnam, ambassadors, distinguished guests, friends and colleagues, good morning, welcome to the eighth mas lecture. first held in 2000, the mas lecture has over the years featured several eminent members of the international financial community who have offered their perspectives on important economic and financial issues. today, mark carney joins that distinguished band of leaders in finance, and it is my pleasure to introduce him. carney has the rare distinction of serving as governor for not just one central bank but two : • from 2008 to 2013, carney was governor of the bank of canada, playing a major role in helping canada avoid the worst effects of the global financial crisis. • and since the middle of last year, he has been governor of the bank of england, the first time that a non - briton has taken the helm of that hallowed institution in its 320 - year history. • perhaps the transition was made easier by the fact that the appointments of both the governor of the bank of england and that of the bank of canada are made in the name of the queen. but it is testimony to the strong credentials that carney brought to these jobs : • a solid academic grounding – with a phd in economics from oxford university ; • extensive experience in the private sector – having spent more than a decade at goldman sachs ; • a background in public policy – working on a variety of economic issues at the canadian department of finance ; and • most important, a commitment to serve the larger good of society. • carney ’ s topic today is the future of financial reform. he is uniquely well placed to talk about this, having lived and breathed financial reforms in the aftermath of the crisis, especially as the chairman of the financial stability board. • under carney ’ s leadership, the fsb has worked intensely to correct the fault lines that led to the global financial crisis. • the fsb, in partnership with various standard setting bodies, has presided over perhaps one of the boldest and most far - reaching set of regulatory reforms in recent memory. • we look forward to hearing from carney the progress and implications of that work, the new risks emerging on the financial horizon, and the

or to innovate existing processes, we also require that they understand and can manage the associated risks. it is this philosophy that underpins the mas to be among the first regulators in the world to adopt a regulatory sandbox regime. 12 mas regulatory sandbox provides a constrained but more flexible space for players seeking to test new technology or approaches before a full launch. such sandbox pilots are held within defined risk parameters and are time - bound. these restrictions help to limit the impact from unsuccessful applicants but equally important, they allow mas to also understand the new model up close – how it is run, how the technology or its application is used, how the risks are managed and the value proposition to clients before mainstream use and scalability. this will also allow the mas to calibrate our final rules that are appropriate to the new business model or start - up while addressing any level - playing field concerns. as another example, the mas recently issued a consultation paper on changes to our recognised market operator ( or “ rmo ” ) regime. under the current approach, singapore - based market operators must be approved exchanges if they are systemically important, or else regulated as rmos. but new forms of market places have emerged – such as trading facilities that make use of blockchain technology or peer - to - peer platforms without intermediaries. our regulatory framework will need to be flexible to accommodate innovative business models by market operators with rules that are commensurate with the risks including factors such as retail access and scale of business. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches there have been some queries on our regulatory stance towards crypto - currencies, or more generally, digital tokens and icos ( initial coin offerings ). we have issued a public advisory to caution those who “ invest ” in crypto - tokens to do so with caution and to understand their characteristics including being volatile and non - legal tender. mas has also issued a guide on digital token offerings last year to explain that our regulatory treatment depends on the digital tokens ’ inherent characteristics. for utility tokens, which are for restricted usage within a defined set of products or services, these are not subject to mas regulations. on the other hand, for payment tokens which are designed to be an alternate form of a medium of exchange, the intermediaries processing these tokens will come into our regulatory ambit under the proposed payment services bill. this is to ensure that these providers adopt the necessary measures and controls