Marzunisham Omar: Globalisation - contents and discontents Welcoming remarks by Mr Marzunisham Omar, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the World Bank International Conference "Globalisation: Contents and Discontents", Kuala Lumpur, 15 January 2019. * * * Globalisation has contributed to the world’s unprecedented economic growth and prosperity. Global output has increased more than six-fold in the past 50 years. A billion people have been lifted from abject poverty in just one generation. Although the gains from globalisation are vast and widely-acknowledged, its fruits have not been equitably shared by all. The growing sense of discontent and injustice among the marginalised have led to a retreat from globalisation in the recent period. This reminds me of what the late Kofi Annan once said: “Globalisation is a fact of life. But I believe we have underestimated its fragility”. Globalisation has, and will always, exist in a tension. The challenge is finding the right balance between various, and often contrary, objectives. The retreat from global integration and multilateralism today serves as a wake-up call for us to reflect on the realities of globalisation, to re-examine our policy choices and to recalibrate our way forward. With rapid technological advancements becoming an increasingly polarising force, the sociopolitical and economic issues at hand are more pressing than ever. It is my great pleasure to welcome you today to the World Bank International Conference on ‘Globalisation: Contents and Discontents’. Thank you to the World Bank for giving me the opportunity to say a few words.
All in all, the banks’ capital position will be strengthened considerably compared with previous regulations, contributing to the boosting of confidence, both in the individual banks and in the system as a whole. …and carry out clear measures for liquidity In the light of the crisis of the autumn of 2008, the Basel Committee has decided, for the first time, on quantitative requirements for liquidity in the banks. Basel III works with two liquidity measures – one short-term and one long-term. The short-term measure is based on, in principle, every bank having sufficient liquid assets to survive for at least 30 days. It is difficult to consider such a requirement as unreasonable. The long-term measure, in principle, limits the gap between the maturity of a bank’s assets and the maturity of its debts. So this limits the duration risk of the bank. In the end, Basel III will be implemented as national legislation The regulations I have just sketched will eventually enter national legislation. They are to be fully implemented by 2019, with several sub-targets on the way. In the EU, Basel III will be implemented through what is referred to as the CRR/CRD IV.11 Those of you who have followed the ongoing negotiations know that both countries and EU institutions have different views about how implementation should take place in the EU. An important dividing line has been to what extent countries should be able to stipulate higher requirements nationally than those formulated in the common EU regulations.