One example is our work with the Hong Kong Association of Banks in carrying out a comprehensive review of credit card practices in Hong Kong, drawing on reforms undertaken in the UK and US. As a result, we have been rolling out in stages 31 measures aimed at promoting fair and responsible business practices by credit card issuers, and all these will become effective by 2013. A second example is our partnership with the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Securities and Futures Commission to establish the Financial Dispute Resolution Centre. The objective is to help consumers settle monetary disputes quickly by means of mediation and arbitration. The Centre came into operation in June this year. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The HKMA & consumer education On consumer education the HKMA has also been very active. From time to time, we publish articles, called “insight articles”, to increase consumers’ awareness of their rights and obligations in relation to particular consumer products like accumulators, Octopus cards and instalment payment plans. We also highlight key features and risks of certain investment products, and remind consumers not to invest if they do not understand a product. We have launched earlier this week a “Consumer Corner” on the HKMA website to provide important information on local banking consumer issues, including a set of “frequently asked questions” based on public enquiries and topical issues. As with protection, so with education, we are also working with our partners.
Durmuş Yilmaz: Economic governance – the Turkish case Opening remarks by Mr Durmuş Yilmaz, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, at the Conference on Current Issues in Economic Governance, Ankara, 3 April 2007. *  *  *  Ministers, academicians, bureaucrats, guests, It is an honour for me to address a distinguished audience on such an important issue. The conference will do much service by bringing forward the issue of “economic governance”, which we as the Central Bank have emphasized at numerous occasions. Let me thank Bilkent University for creating such a productive environment. Today, I would like to devote some time to highlighting the importance of principles of good governance in general and economic governance in particular. In the context of economic governance, I would also like to mention some issues on how to create good institutions. Then, I will proceed with the Turkish case and the Central Bank of Turkey. But first of all, I will start by outlining the basic definitions of the concepts I am going to use. Although the concept of governance is not new at all, in recent years it has started to be widely used in economics, especially in the development literature. While governance, or rather good governance, has been introduced as an effective tool to harness globalisation, it is not easy to define in one sentence because of its many interacting elements.