It is important that bankers including board members remain current on all these developments and understand their implications on our domestic and regional financial landscape. In the insurance and takaful industry, there have been continued improvements in corporate governance practices and further strengthening of the capital positions of individual institutions. These improvements have however, been uneven between institutions and overall progress can be further accelerated. We will monitor closely the implementation plans by insurers to meet and maintain internal capital targets that are above the regulatory minimum level. Given the increasingly more complex and competitive environment going forward, smaller insurers, particularly in the general insurance industry, need to strengthen their ability to comply with the higher prudential standards. The option for mergers to form stronger and more resilient institutions would accelerate this process. In the critical area of corporate governance, we are well advanced in our concerted efforts to strengthen the Boards of Financial Institutions through the Financial Institutions Directors’ Education (FIDE) programme which is now managed by the ICLIF Leadership and Governance Centre. More than 200 directors have completed the programme. Bank Negara Malaysia is also reviewing the need for boards of insurance companies to be served by a dedicated head of risk to provide assurance to the board on the quality of risk management within the firm. This is to promote better risk management systems and  BIS Review 146/2010  5  processes among insurers and a more integrated approach to risk management and oversight within insurers.
MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul: Inflation targeting - a new monetary policy approach for Thailand  Speech by Mr MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Bank of Thailand’s International Economic Conference “Practical Experiences on Inflation Targeting” held in Bangkok on 20 October 2000. *  *  *  Distinguished panelists, Ladies and Gentlemen, This is the second seminar on inflation targeting organized by the Bank of Thailand. But this is the first seminar at international level, with highly distinguished speakers from many famous central banks. To set the right tone for the seminar, I want to start with a question: what does the general public expect from the central bank? People invariably want the good life: a high standard of living, abundant goods and services to consume. They also want political freedom, a clean environment, and many other things, but let us concentrate on the economic aspects in order to keep it relevant to central banking. To give people the good life, the economy has to be generating output at a high level, the highest level in relation to its capacity. The economy will also have to generate enough jobs to accommodate the new workers entering the labor force yearly. For many Asian countries where the demographic slant is heavily towards the younger ages, the number of new workers entering the labor force each year is substantial. Therefore, the level of output has to grow to provide adequate employment.