A growing number of firms, not only machinery companies, have targeted the oil industry. Labour shedding in some sectors has freed up labour for other uses. Oil companies have shown the capacity and the willingness to pay. Tax rules have favoured investment spending. Earnings have been solid. The companies’ employees have been wage winners here in Norway (see Chart 3). A state-of-art oil service industry has emerged. New products and technological solutions have been developed. For many, the contracts on the Norwegian continental shelf have been a springboard to new export markets. There is a wide array of examples of company turnarounds. Let me offer one: The manufacturing company Øglænd in Rogaland, established by Jonas Øglænd from Sandnes as far back as in the 1860s, launched the bicycle brand DBS in 1932, which later became a household name in Norway. Today, the company, which is one of Norges Bank’s regional network contacts, is one of the world’s leading producers of suspension systems. Its customers are mainly oil and gas production companies. The company has more than doubled its turnover over the past three years. Around three-quarters of its sales are outside Norway. The oil and gas industry has been decisive for the strong growth in the Norwegian economy over the past 40 years. But the past 15 years stand out. From the end of the 1990s, the price of North Sea oil rose from about USD 10 per barrel to over USD 100 per barrel.
Norman T L Chan: Strengthening risk management of banks in Hong Kong Statement by Mr Norman T L Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, to the media, Hong Kong, 19 May 2017. * * * In view of the increasing risk of overheating in the property market, I would like to announce that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has decided to introduce three new counter-cyclical prudential measures today to strengthen the risk management of banks. 2. The first measure requires those banks using Internal Ratings-Based Approach to  calculate capital charges for credit risk to raise the risk weight floor by 10 percentage points from the existing level of 15% to 25% for new residential mortgage loans. 3. The second measure requires banks to lower the applicable loan-to-value ratio (LTV) cap by 10 percentage points for mortgage loans extended to applicants with one or more pre-existing mortgages. 4. The third measure requires banks to lower the applicable debt servicing ratio (DSR) limits by 10 percentage points for mortgage loans extended to applicants whose income is mainly derived from outside of Hong Kong. 5. These three measures take immediate effect. However, mortgage applications for transactions with provisional sale and purchase agreements signed today or earlier will not be affected. 6. Finally, I would like to remind the public that, for most people, buying a property is not only one of the most important decisions in life, it is also a financial transaction entailing significant leverage through borrowing.