•  Introduce products/supply chain focused credit facilities and payment instruments: Introduction of appropriate credit facilities as well as payment systems and instruments in commodity markets and production chains/supply chains seems to be new entry points to improve access to finance and financial inclusion. Women  8  BIS Review 40/2008  in agriculture can be driven towards a debt trap when prices collapse at the time of harvesting. Although it is common to both men and women in agriculture, losing regular incomes would be a bigger blow to women than men. There can be inland bills, goods receipt vouchers and other instruments that are discountable during such periods. This is a responsibility for banks and financial institutions. Let me sum up the substance in a few sentences. More than anything, there is an urgency on the part of CENWOR or Marga or any other institution to conduct research, surveys and statistical analyses to assess the status of enhancement of access to credit and financial inclusion among women in Sri Lanka. It is hard to come to conclusions without adequate and reliable statistics or even to initiate policy action to fill in gaps that exist in this area. It is equally important for the relevant Ministry or Ministries and other public and private organizations to coordinate and prepare a strategic plan to spearhead the campaign of financial inclusion for women and suggest policy and operational measures as they deem fit. This initiative too should be supported by well-recognized research institutions like CENWOR.
I view these two strands as complements rather than substitutes, with more work necessary on both. Turning first to the issue of reducing the consequences of failure, there are numerous elements of this effort underway. Some are focused on making the financial market infrastructure more robust so that when a failure occurs the shock is dampened, not amplified and propagated throughout the financial system. For example, considerable effort has been made to create incentives for firms to standardize over-the-counter derivative trades and to clear those trades through central counterparties. Similarly, extensive work has been undertaken by the Federal Reserve and the major clearing banks to make the tri-party repo system more stable. Money market mutual fund reform is also part of this ongoing effort. Other initiatives are focused on reducing the financial stability consequences from the failure of a systemically important financial firm. The major initiative here is the single point of entry framework for resolution proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Under this framework, if a financial firm is to be resolved under Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act, the FDIC will place the top tier bank holding company into receivership and its assets will be transferred to a bridge holding company. The equity holders will be wiped out and sufficient long-term unsecured debt will be converted into equity in the new bridge company to cover any remaining losses and to ensure that the new entity is well capitalized and deemed creditworthy.