Financial institutions will be required to keep proper records related to employees and to provide the required information when requested by another institution. This will guard the system against disreputable staff and enact barriers against potential threats to the integrity of the system. As guardians of the system, bankers need to look at these requirements as useful enabling tools or defenses that help with their mission to successfully protect the integrity of the system. Guardians of knowledge and wisdom The complexity scientist, Samuel Arbesman in his study of how knowledge develops, postulates that knowledge behaves like radioactive decay. Every fact has a ‘half-life’ and it will inevitably decay. It means that the frontier of knowledge also changes constantly. What we know today may be untrue tomorrow. This rings true for matters concerning banking. The immediate manner in which our knowledge becomes obsolete certainly ties in with our experience in banking and society at large. For one, the complexity of economic, environmental and social challenges seems to increase exponentially. Furthermore, much of the knowledge frontier remains unexplored. Consider this. We only utilise less than 0.5% of our existing data. There is a long way to go. The potential is enormous. In all likelihood, what we know today will be vastly different in two, five and 10 years into the future. We see this happening already in the banking sector, with the greater use of technology and in particular, more creative use of data analytics to better serve consumers and business needs.
Peter Pang: Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation retail bond issues Opening remarks by Mr Peter Pang, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Executive Director of the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited, at the Signing Ceremony for the Retail Bond Issue under the HKMC's Retail Bond Issuance Programme, Hong Kong, 1 September 2006. *  *  *  Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, On behalf of the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation, I welcome you all to this signing ceremony for the new retail bond to be offered to the public next Monday. Five years ago, in October 2001, the HKMC introduced a mechanism to offer retail bonds through placing banks. This move received very warm welcome from both the banking sector and retail investors. So far, we have issued eight retail bonds for a total amount of $ billion. Two major factors are behind the success of the HKMC's retail bond issues. First it is our strong credit rating. In fact, our credit rating has recently been upgraded by S&P’s to AA with stable outlook and by Moody's to Aa3 with positive outlook. Secondly, the HKMC meets the needs of retail investors through continual product innovation. On this occasion, we again bring some new features to our retail bond issuance. Apart from issuing two-year notes in Hong Kong Dollar and in US Dollar, we are introducing a new 10-year Hong Kong Dollar Zero Coupon Bond.