The third pool of local talent that we want to tap on is our network of overseas Singaporeans. Overseas Singaporeans in finance and in technology are well placed to excel in Singapore’s international financial centre. They have a solid understanding of overseas markets, useful networks, and good experience working in a cross-cultural environment. Indeed, many returning Singaporeans have progressed well in their careers and taken on leadership roles here. Take for example Melissa Lim who returned from Germany. Melissa is a Technology & Innovation Strategy Director at Standard Chartered Bank, where she is involved in driving the bank’s tech strategy and other transformation projects. Prior to that, Melissa spent five years in Frankfurt, Germany, where she was the Head of Investment Platform Transformation at Allianz Global Investors, leading a global team to deliver strategic investment transformation programmes. Melissa is one of the panellists for the Relocation Fireside later today, so do tune in to hear more from her. I hope that more overseas Singaporeans – when you are ready to return home – will take up opportunities in Singapore’s vibrant financial sector, grow further in your careers, and make a difference here in Asia. As important as growing the Singaporean Core, we must continue to welcome and embrace high quality global talent. I know questions have been raised on Singapore’s continued openness to global talent. First, the pandemic-related border controls were very difficult for many of our expatriate staff and their families. Many firms faced challenges bringing in foreign manpower due to our border controls.
Notwithstanding some recent signs of improvement in the economic outlook, it is premature to declare the financial crisis over. From today’s perspective, the need for enhanced credit support remains. Therefore, for the time being central bank liquidity is likely to remain abundant. This does not mean, however, that the broader concept of liquidity in terms of monetary aggregates grows strongly. And it is this broader concept, not central bank liquidity itself, which is related to inflationary pressures over the medium term. Of course, central bank credit and broader monetary aggregates are linked over time. In a modern banking system, and in normal circumstances, central bank credit is largely used by banks – in the form of required reserves – to create bank credit, and expand deposits and broad money aggregates. So, an increased provision of central bank credit can lead – more or less automatically – to an increase in broad money. In current conditions, that link has been weakened, however. Today, banks – in the aggregate – tend to hold part of the central bank credit that they obtain in our refinancing operations not as a reserve against an expansion of loans and deposits, but in the form of  8  BIS Review 103/2009  excess reserves deposited with the Eurosystem. This attenuates the automatic link between the provision of central bank liquidity and broad money. And, as a consequence, it attenuates the inflationary potential of the Eurosystem’s outstanding credit to banks.