The preliminary model was further refined in a Validation Seminar attended by visionary and prominent leaders with proven track record of business performance excellence from both the private and public sectors. The Model forms the foundation to guide the philosophy and drive the design and delivery of ICLIF’s leadership development programmes. I wish to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the industry luminaries who have given so much of their time in participating in the validation seminar for the ICLIF Leadership Competency Model. Let me share with you some of the interesting findings of the consultants in assessing our leaders based on the competencies identified in the Model. Among the positive findings of the exercise was the observation by the consultants that many of the leaders interviewed exhibited strong competencies in the area of focus, drive, execution, negotiations (and deal making) and entrepreneurial drive. These are all competencies resulting from high achievement needs and high achievement values. There is also a high sense of national pride and desire to enable Malaysia to meet the challenges of 2020. Participants also displayed a strong sense of performance drive for excellence. There are areas of competencies that, however, require further development. The review detected some degree of performance complacency by some respondents, as reflected by a lack of drive to achieve and the lack of desire to benchmark against the global best. Participants seemed quite satisfied with what they had personally achieved.
While this implies that a one-size-fits-all level of transparency is unlikely to exist, a number of economic forces are omnipresent and therefore allow us to draw some conclusions from the academic literature on post-trade transparency. In those market segments that the MiFID II review aims to address, liquidity providers play a central role as they intermediate between end investors and thereby help to secure a wellfunctioning marketplace. Yet an efficient and resilient market requires a sufficient level of competition. Several studies6 show that a lack of transparency can be a serious threat to a level playing field because intermediaries may use their private knowledge of customer order flow as an informational advantage that allows them to exert market power. Therefore,  3  See opinion of the ECB of 25 January 2012 on a proposal for a Directive on the access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms and a proposal for a Regulation on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms (CON/2012/5). 4  In particular the Money Market Contact Group, the newly established Bond Market Contact Group, the Foreign Exchange Contact Group and the Operations Managers Contact Group (see the ECB website for more information on these groups).