Tarisa Watanagase: Risk-focused supervision and risk assessment Opening address by Dr Tarisa Watanagase, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the APEC Financial Regulators Training Initiative Regional Seminar on Risk-Focused Supervision and Risk Assessment, Bangkok, 6 September 2004. *  *  *  Distinguished Guests, Ladies und Gentlemen, lt is a pleasure for me to be here at the opening of the APEC Financial Regulators Training Initiative on Risk-Focused Supervision und Risk Assessment. In making this opening address, I would like to personally extend a warm welcome to all the participants and to express my appreciation to the Federal Reserve experts who have kindly agreed to share with us their knowledge und experience on risk-based supervision. This regional seminar is held at an opportune time, about two months after the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision released the Basel II capital framework. As you all are undoubtedly aware of, Basel II aims to strengthen financial stability by encouraging sound risk management practices at banking organizations. The tools uscd are a more risk-sensitive capital regime (Pillar 1); the application of risk-based supervision (Pillar 2); und improved public disclosures to enhance market discipline (Pillar 3). Of the three pillars, one of the most formidable challenges for emerging market supervisors will be to properly implement the Pillar II risk-based supervisory framework. Since risk-based supervision is the main topic of this seminar, it may be useful to provide a few thoughts on some of the broader regulatory und supervisory implications associated with implementing this framework.
Data from Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS) also shows that the people who over-spend and over-borrow are not just low-income people. In fact, most of them are not low-income. The average income of those who come to CCS with serious debt problems is around $ per month, not far below the median income level; and quite a few are higher income. Hence everyone can over-borrow because of overspending. According to the CCS, the most common problem is actually over-spending. 5. MAS has also found from the survey that more than half of those surveyed had insufficient insurance to protect their dependents if something were to happen to them. One in three of those surveyed did not know that they were covered by Medishield. Hence the level of awareness is not very high. 6. Quite a few people are passive towards managing their money. That means not planning ahead or finding out information that would help them to manage their money well. This is again something we find all over the world. In most countries, they find that many people do not plan ahead, and they take life one step at a time, taking things as they come. But eventually, they may end up with problems if they have not saved enough or not anticipated some future expenses for their children or themselves. So we can do more to help Singaporeans to plan ahead, by expanding financial education for all age and income groups, all over Singapore.