A single supervisor with a single rulebook entails that supervisory and regulatory activities should be implemented in a harmonized and consistent manner, therefore lowering or eliminating the current cost of compliance for banks with cross-border operations. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Currently, there are widespread differences in terms of the interpretation and application of regulatory and prudential definitions across Member States, and especially in what concerns supervisory forbearance. In terms of the latter, the National Bank of Romania has chosen a very transparent and tough approach, with the result that non-performing loans indicators have soared. At the moment, the non-performing loan ratio calculated based on prudential regulations stands above 22 percent. However, considering the new indicator on asset quality defined by the European Banking Authority, which covers both government and non-government exposures, the ratio declines to around 17 percent and is seen falling even further when fully provisioned non-performing loans are written off. In this context, the recent increase in provisioning by the Romanian subsidiary of Erste Bank should not be interpreted as a tightening of the supervisor’s stance in the run-up to the asset quality review, but simply as business as usual, in the sense that the bank is correctly applying the same regulations and accounting standards as the rest of the system. Fifth and final argument, apart from the potential benefits mentioned so far, I believe that not opting for the Banking Union may entail significant costs for non-euro area countries as they are vulnerable to contagion effects.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam: MoneySENSE launches new programmes to reach more Singaporeans Speech by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the launch of the MoneySENSE 2006 Roadshow, Singapore, 31 March 2006. *  *  *  Distinguished Guests Friends from NTUC and various community organizations Ladies and Gentlemen Boys and Girls  Introduction 1. I am pleased to launch the inaugural MoneySENSE 2006 Roadshow, which seeks to bring financial education to Singaporeans from all walks of life. MoneySENSE has done well 2. MoneySENSE is on a roll. Since its launch in October 2003, it has seen over 140 talks, seminars and workshops on financial education, attracting over 15,000 participants. It has also published 16 consumer guides with a total circulation exceeding one million. 3. These achievements are results of collaboration between government, industry, community groups and our media partners. I encourage MoneySENSE to build on and expand these strong partnerships, and bring financial education to even more Singaporeans. 4. Let me now touch on a few new programmes that MoneySENSE has lined up this year. MoneySENSE launches new programmes to reach more Singaporeans MoneySENSE 2006 Roadshow 5. Today's MoneySENSE 2006 Roadshow presents simple financial education messages and tips to adults and children through fun activities. A simple game of shooting basketballs into nets from different distances is used to highlight risk-return tradeoffs.