While long-term interests in state-owned companies require ownership discipline and distance from decisionmaking, the challenge to the Pension Fund is to assert its minority interests and contribute to transparent corporate governance. Here we can apply internationally recognised principles drawn up by the OECD and the UN. Restructuring in state-owned enterprises and the wider business sector has enhanced the efficient use of labour, capital and other resources. International comparisons indicate that production in Norway is fairly efficient – also in sectors other than oil and gas. 8 A comparison shows that both Norway and Europe were catching up with the US for a while. In Norway, productivity showed a particularly strong increase at the beginning of the 1970s. Growth was weaker from the mid-1970s and up to the beginning of the 1990s, but has since picked up somewhat again. Productivity growth has been weaker in many European countries over the past decade. Restructuring in retail trade and the financial industry in particular has progressed at a slower pace in Europe than in the US. In this respect, developments in Norway are more similar to developments in the US. When productivity growth picked up in Norway, it was primarily in retail trade and the postal, telecom and banking industries. Two factors seem to be important for growth: First: In areas and enterprises in decline, adversity can trigger creativity when companies are split up and new owners make their entry.
Ravi Menon: Singapore’s financial centre in the new landscape Keynote address by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Investment Management Association of Singapore’s (IMAS) 14th Annual Conference, Singapore, 13 March 2013. *  *  *  Mr Lester Gray, Chairman of IMAS, Distinguished speakers, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. A new financial landscape Four years since Lehman Brothers collapsed, a new financial landscape is emerging. While the contours of this new landscape are still forming, three driving forces are discernible: financial deleveraging, regulatory reforms, and the rise of Asia Driving forces First, the global financial industry is deleveraging. Banks around the world are consolidating their balance sheets and tightening underwriting standards, even forgoing certain types of lending altogether. Many have resorted to shedding assets, especially assets in those countries where the banks do not enjoy a large market share. •  According to BIS data, globally, banks’ foreign claims fell by about 15% from early 2008 to 2012. •  For European banks, the decline was twice as steep, at about 30%. Second, the global financial crisis has spurred financial regulatory reforms on a scale that we have never seen before. •  Basel III will raise the quantity and quality of capital that banks must hold, increase the liquidity buffers they must keep, and limit the amount of leverage they can take on.