At times where there was still high uncertainty, and there was a higher demand for safety and liquidity, the long-term interest rates of various public instruments in Chile went to record lows. As this uncertainty faded, the precautionary demand followed suit, pushing up long-term interest rates in pesos and in UF until the end of May. In the last couple of months, because of a string of episodes of higher and lower doubts about the true strength of the global recovery, long-term interest rates have fluctuated, but always above the levels of early this year. A similar pattern has been seen in long-term interest rates around the world (figure 2). We are not indifferent to the evolution of long-term interest rates. This is evident from the facts that, to enhance our last monetary policy measure, we have not only begun providing liquidity at the current MPR level for up to six months, but we have also suspended issues of instruments at one to two years’ terms. Furthermore, we permanently take into consideration bond issuance plans of the Treasury before defining our own programs. Nonetheless, it is necessary to undertake a careful analysis of the long-term interest rate levels to properly assess their implications. After all, very low long-term rates are a symptom of depressed prospects for long-term growth and strong demand for safety.
And I would like to share with you that some banks have launched what we may call a “pre-vetting” process for account opening. This means an applicant may request to first submit the documentation and information required for opening an account to the bank by mail, fax or email, and the bank will “pre-screen” or “pre-vet” them before arranging the applicant to have a face-to-face meeting in Hong Kong. I trust this change in process flow would be welcome by customers based overseas. 8. We are also working closely with the industry to explore the use of technology to enhance the efficiency of account opening processes, such as KYC Utilities (“KYCU”) and technology to allow remote account opening. You may have heard about KYCU, which are third-party platforms that aim to manage data as a strategic asset across banks to reduce duplication and cost and assist banks in making decisions, on all types of risks, including but not limited to AML, and as a result to make smarter business decisions. For example, a single source of customer data or documents would remove the need of a customer to provide KYC documentation to every bank, and may shorten the turnaround time for new account opening. We have had a number of discussions with major banks and relevant technology providers and steps have already been taken by both the HKMA and some major banks to take this work forward.