Investment advice by persons not carrying on a business: a growing number of online discussion fora, chat-rooms and bulletin boards allow persons to post their opinions concerning securities. An entity providing a platform for public discussion of securities would not attract licensing.11 Neither would a participant, as long as he is not deemed to be “carrying on a business” of providing advice. In the context of dealing, we will treat two common practices as passive conduits. First, websites providing hypertext links to, or advertisements for, licensed dealers. But websites should not advertise for, or link users, to unlicensed dealers, including overseas dealers not licensed by MAS. Second, licensing is not necessary for providing prospectuses and application forms passively on websites, or via email upon the request of investors. These merely improve on the efficiency of paper distribution.12 Websites must not go beyond being passive conduits. MAS will consider portals or websites providing facilities for accepting or relaying orders to dealers as licensable. This is because such a facility carries the risk of failure to transmit trade orders in a timely and accurate fashion, potentially to the detriment of investors. Overseas websites specifically targeting Singapore residents Our final principle deals with overseas websites. MAS will apply the same licensing principles to overseas websites which specifically target Singapore residents, as it does to local websites. This is to ensure that foreign and local internet players are treated on the same regulatory basis.
Stefan Ingves: The monetary policy landscape in a financial crisis Speech by Mr Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the Swedish Economics Association, Stockholm, 31 March 2009. *  *  *  Introduction "The monetary policy landscape in a financial crisis" is the theme of my speech this time. I thought for once that I would begin by showing you a picture. The slide shows an oil painting that was done in 1842 by the English artist William Turner.1 It is called ”Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth”. It is part of the collection at the Tate Gallery in London. The only thing you need to know about the painting just now is that Turner used a very special technique. He built up the picture gradually by painting several thin, semi-transparent layers on top of each other. He then added somewhat thicker, more pastose sections. As you can see, this layer-by-layer technique gave his paintings a special lustre and a special atmosphere. We would probably say that the atmosphere in this painting is dramatic. Turner's technique can also act as a starting point for a description of the situation today. Reality is made up of different layers. Every layer that is added or peeled away reveals a partly new landscape. We can compare the financial crisis to the snow storm in Turner's painting. In order to paint the picture of the complete storm we need to begin with a layer that describes the macroeconomic preconditions, the macroeconomic landscape.