These may seem like theoretical arguments. Yet Ireland is a very concrete working example. Thanks to prior structural reforms, relative prices in this country adjusted almost immediately after the 2008–09 recession, allowing the economy to quickly begin regaining its competitiveness. The unemployment rate started declining in 2012, falling from 14% in December that year to 12% a year later. By contrast, in other programme countries with less flexible economies the recovery started much later. While we need to be cautious attributing causation, the significant decline in investment in Ireland over the last five years now appears to have ended. Capital formation in the first three quarters of 2013 declined in annual terms, but stripping out the impact from a fall in aircraft purchases there appears to be stronger underlying recovery in investment. All this suggests that Ireland is implementing the right kind of policies to raise its growth potential in the future – and in a sustainable way that is not linked to the financial cycle. The current level of Irish government bonds spreads implies that this is a view widely shared by financial markets. However, I trust that this good news will not give rise to complacency, as Ireland continues to face considerable challenges on several fronts. These include further repair of both public and private sector balance sheets. They include reducing the still high rates of unemployment for the long-term unemployed and the young.
Ong Chong Tee: Observations and thoughts from a financial regulator’s perspective Keynote address by Mr Ong Chong Tee, Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) 9th Annual Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crime Conference, Singapore, 24 April 2017. * * * 1. Good morning. Mr Timothy McClinton, President and CEO of the Association of Certified AntiMoney Laundering Specialists (ACAMS); Ms Hue Dang, CAMS-Audit Head of Asia; Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am delighted to join you in this 9th Annual Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crime Conference in Asia Pacific. 2. I like to commend ACAMS’s leadership and your membership for the extensive work on training and various outreach programmes relating to financial crime detection and prevention. Many of you are specialists and experts in this area. But as Malcolm Forbes once said: one definition of an expert would be someone who knows enough of a subject to know that he does not know how much he does not know. Fora such as this are therefore beneficial for collective learning and sharing, to plug knowledge gaps and to exchange perspectives. 3. Allow me to share some observations and thoughts this morning from a financial regulator’s perspective. 4. For some years now, the global community has been stepping up our efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The integrity and stability of the international financial system must not be exploited by those who engage in criminal activities. 5.