Conclusion In closing, let me congratulate the AFA on its second annual conference and the progress that has been made in bringing the industry together under an organized platform to further advance and develop the industry. I come back to my opening comments and look forward to working with the Association to deliver the objectives that were originally set out for the industry, that is to improve the quality of advice and enhance its role in supporting the broader financial management strategies of Malaysian households and individuals to grow their savings, manage risk and meet their financial goals. Thank you. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches
There are already some examples of voluntary debt-for-equity exchanges among companies. For example, Chelsea Football Club recently announced a large-scale swap, which accounts for their plummit down the debt league table. In principle, mortgage contracts could also be adapted to lessen the burden on over-indebted households by allowing lenders to convert their loan into an equity stake, as suggested, for example, by the charity Shelter. 16 Preventing tomorrow’s debt hangover Once today’s debt hangover is solved, how is tomorrow’s to be prevented? As debt crises have been with us for a millennium, it is fanciful to think they could be eliminated. But could the party be moderated in frequency and scale? In seeking new ways to tackle this old problem, two possible avenues would be the re-orientation of regulatory policy on the one hand and better designed debt contracts on the other. First, regulatory policy. Since at least the 1970s, public policy has not sought actively to moderate fluctuations in the credit cycle in most G7 economies. Moderating the business cycle was believed sufficient to hold credit in check. The experience of the past decade, in the UK and elsewhere, has called that into question. In the UK, credit grew at three times the rate of money spending over that period, sowing the seeds of the credit crisis, while inflation and growth remained remarkably stable. In tackling this problem, one option is a re-orientation of regulatory policy towards curbing the cycle in credit supply.