The first step is to build the skills required at the tertiary level to ensure that the curriculum at our universities and colleges equip graduates with the relevant knowledge and skills that meet the needs of the industry. In this respect, closer cooperation between the industry's training institute and the academia will help to develop a new breed of graduates who will be much better prepared to enter the workplace. At the post-employment stage, we need incentives for continuous learning and upgrading of skills and an infrastructure that delivers the appropriate training. For the development of banking sector workforce, the International Centre for Leadership in Finance (ICLIF) was established to pave the way for the development of future leaders in the industry, while Institut Bank-Bank Malaysia (IBBM) provides the avenue for competency building among the various levels of staff. With the onset of financial liberalisation, the traditional lines of business are likely to expand into new areas and new business models. As a consequence, the skills requirements have also evolved with the growing diversity and complexity of businesses in which banks are engaged, the increasingly sophisticated customer needs, technological innovation, and the expectations for sound risk management. In this context, there is a need to analyse the essential competencies for current job functions and to anticipate future skills requirements, with a view to building a competency framework for banking and finance that is relevant to the changing financial landscape.
Since coupon rates on  7  Fed funds equivalents are calculated by comparing the change in the 10-year Treasury yield due to asset purchases to the change that historically occurred following movements in the target federal funds rate. This is a simple framework, so the uncertainty around this measure is likely large. 8  For more information on the TBA market, see Vickery and Wright (2013). 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  agency MBS are offered in 50 basis point increments, the originator might choose to sell the remaining cash flows to investors in the TBA market in the form of an agency MBS with a coupon rate of 3 percent and retain the remaining 25 basis points.9,10 In this case, the 3 percent TBA contract would be the production coupon.11 The Desk focuses its purchases in production coupons because these securities are the most liquid segment of the TBA market and their yields are closely tied to the primary mortgage rate through the dynamics I just described. Purchases are distributed across different agencies, maturities, and coupons in amounts that are roughly proportional to anticipated gross issuance of those securities. Purchases lower the yield on these securities relative to where they would otherwise be, which should enable originators to offer lower mortgage rates to borrowers.12 Lower borrowing rates should in turn help stimulate demand in the housing market, support home prices, and increase mortgage borrowers’ purchasing power. As I mentioned before, asset purchases affect interest rates in part by removing risk from investors’ portfolios.