In an economy with a developed banking system such as ours, financing for the internationalisation of the Spanish economy is largely conditional on developments at the international level. The best policy for promoting the financing of the international expansion of our companies is to ensure the financial stability and soundness of the Spanish financial and banking system. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches
We created the Tracker Fund in a little under 6 months, from the time the EFIL Board recommended on 21st June 1999 that this was the way to launch the disposal programme. We did this at a time when market sentiment in Asia was just beginning to become less negative. If this were not enough of a challenge, we also had the shadow of Y2K hanging over us! By some miracle or rather due to the sheer hard work, long hours and perseverance on the part of the project team, we overcame countless operational, IT, legal and regulatory challenges thrown at us. Just to add to the degree of difficulty, we had to work in the full glare of the public eye, knowing that any miscommunication (however slight) could have a severely negative effect not only on our stock market but also on the international perception of Hong Kong. I have to tell you that making the decision to use an ETF as the disposal strategy was not an easy one. The strategy was then unorthodox and unproven in Asia, as was the investment appetite for such a product. The investment banking community was perplexed that we should launch an ETF when a block trade or a convertible bond option was so much more “familiar” or “safer”. Our legal advisers were perplexed that we should launch a fund through an IPO.