Through this program, several opportunities for collaboration on training have been identified, particularly in the context of existing plans for human resource development at the central bank, the CBM’s strategic plan for onsite and offsite supervision, and a future CBM training institute. And today, with the opening of this Maybank branch, marks another milestone in the relationship between Myanmar and Malaysia. The granting of a banking license to Maybank provides Malaysia with yet another avenue to participate and contribute towards the economic development of Myanmar. Being a responsible corporate citizen It is in the interest of financial institutions to be a responsible corporate citizen and contribute to the flourishing and wellbeing of society. Financial institutions must adapt to their domestic environment and be mindful of the needs of the community in which they operate in. Access to financial services for all segments of society is important for inclusive and sustainable growth for an economy. The low and moderate income households must be served as they represent the future. There are at least two dimensions to being a responsible corporate citizen. The first dimension is to design and grow business responsibly, by providing ethical and sustainable financial products and services to all segments of society. Part of this essential component is promoting greater levels of financial literacy and understanding of financial products among the local community. Banks need to strive to deliver the highest standards of service to all. The second dimension is the act itself of giving back to the community.
And, the banking system has become more fragmented or “balkanised”, with a preference for banks to subsidiarise in countries beyond their home state, and for regulators to wish for – and achieve – the location of more capital and larger pools of liquid assets in their jurisdictions. We should not be surprised by this, but nor should we accept that it is inevitably with us as a permanent feature. The reasons why we have seen these changes are not hard to explain. Major concerns about sovereign creditworthiness undermine stable banking activity across borders, another important lesson of history. Combined with that, as authorities we have had bad experiences in trying to deal with and resolve failed banks headquartered in other countries. It is not surprising that the natural reaction is to make sure in future we have “got the money”. Moreover, no one country is particularly responsible for this trend – the honest thing is to say that many of us have contributed to it because the alternative available at the time looked worse. And, writing rules to say that such actions should not be taken, irrespective of the underlying reasons for them, is not likely to be a success. This amounts to contradicting basic human nature. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  But, and this is the important point, we should not design the world as if fragmentation and balkanisation are inevitably always likely to be with us.