Durmuş Yilmaz: Dollarization – consequences and policy options Speech by Mr Durmuş Yilmaz, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, at a Conference on “Dollarization”, Istanbul, 14 December 2006. *  *  *  Distinguished Governors, Academicians and Guests, I would like to welcome you all to the conference entitled “Dollarization: Consequences and Policy Options”. I would also like to thank you for sharing your precious knowledge and experiences with us. As this conference is one of the activities organized in the context of the 75th anniversary of the Central Bank of Turkey, it gives me an honor to give the start for it. Before continuing with my speech, I would like to comment on the motives that lie behind the topic of this conference. Although we have never had hyperinflation, we, in Turkey, experienced high and chronic inflation for the past almost 30 years before 2001. Living long years with chronic inflation led to huge losses in the credibility of our national currency, which is important for us as an institution responsible for issuing banknotes and maintaining stability of the money. In this sense, it will be appropriate indeed to discuss dollarization in depth, I believe. Given the wide range of issues related to dollarization and the limited time available, I will make some brief remarks on the concept of dollarization in general and touch upon the Turkish experience in particular. Dear Guests, Dollarization has evolved as one of the noteworthy features of globalization during the last two decades.
And for another, we need to factor in various considerations to keep up with the latest international standards, including measures to uphold and protect data privacy. Therefore, enhancing our financial data infrastructure must be a concerted effort by the banking and tech industry as a whole. A team effort will ultimately lead to public goods that deliver value, benefit all the parties, and at the same time are commercially viable. 30. By improving our data infrastructure, we are empowering the industry and encouraging creativity for developing innovative financial products and solutions, in turn building up the overall appetite for fintech solutions. Expanding the fintech-savvy workforce 31. The three strategies I just mentioned will, hopefully, generate demand in the industry for fintech solutions. However, from what we learnt from the industry, the supply of fintech talent remains a pressing issue. Therefore, our fourth strategy is that we want to foster a fintechsavvy workforce and nurture all-round fintech talent, including students and practitioners. 32. We don’t need reminding of how Hong Kong boasts an extremely strong talent pool – be it in law, finance, accountancy, or other professions. We are a city that thrives on our people’s high agility and efficiency. We pride ourselves on keeping up with international standards as well as customer and market requirements. 33. With fintech being a relatively new area, it is understandable that we currently face an acute fintech talent shortage. Hong Kong is in need of grooming all-round fintech talent and expertise.