But, as I showed you, the protection of financial privacy is not an obstacle to an efficient fight against money laundering or the financing of terrorism, nor does it hamper fair tax competition with our neighbours if a withholding tax is implemented along the line of the EU directive. Both the disclosure of certain informations relating to bank clients and the protection of privacy in the financial sphere arise from fundamental ethical convictions that are worth protecting. I am confident that with a frank dialogue and mutual effort to understand each other’s position, the common values of the Swiss and British financial centres will again come to the forefront. In particular, it is our predominant joint interest to see the very demanding standards that we have set for our own financial industry become the world-wide accepted rules. The long history of our financial centres and the large experience of our banking industry should give us a natural leadership role in this respect. BIS Review 13/2002  7
MAS as central bank, integrated supervisor, and financial sector promoter Those of you who have visited Singapore might have come across one of the highlights of our architectural heritage – the black and white colonial bungalows. Combining British aesthetic sensibilities with local adaptations to a tropical climate, these former colonial residences exude stately elegance while offering cool, airy comfort come monsoon rain or equatorial shine. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) itself operates out of a decidedly functional office block. Thankfully, the work that the MAS does is rather more interesting. •  MAS houses under one roof central banking, financial surveillance, and integrated supervision. •  MAS is also responsible for developing a sound and progressive financial centre. MAS’ single agency model sets us apart from other financial regulators. Many jurisdictions operate on what is commonly known as the twin peaks model of regulation. Under this model, separate agencies have responsibilities for prudential oversight and market conduct respectively. Prudential oversight is concerned principally with the safety and soundness of institutions while market conduct is focused on effective functioning of markets and consumer protection. Australia, Canada, and the UK are among the leading jurisdictions with twin peaks regulators. Like the black and white bungalows, MAS’ unique mandate of central bank, integrated supervisor, and promoter of financial sector development, was born partly out of circumstance.