First I want to refer to the origin of this financial crisis and its linkage with monetary policy. Some arguments point out that the current crisis was originated by monetary policy mistakes, particularly in the United States, where low interest rates are blamed for the housing bubble and subsequent financial meltdown. Some have even claimed that inflation targeting regimes are inadequate, because monetary policy should also aim at controlling asset price inflation. And this is precisely the second point in my presentation, that is, whether interest rates should react to asset price movements or not, and what is the role played by the exchange rate. BIS Review 68/2009  1  To sum up, and insisting on a point I have made before, there are many cases of countries that lowered their interest rates substantially without triggering any housing bubbles. There are also cases of countries with very low interest rates where home prices soared, but still their financial systems did not end up in a financial disaster like they did in some developed economies. This crisis, or at least the magnitude it has reached, is the result of financial fragility and we, in Latin America, are well aware that when a cyclical downturn is combined with a financial crisis, the impact is magnified. Central banks generally have two objectives: price-level stability and financial stability. Recent history reminds us that we cannot pursue both with one single instrument, the interest rate.
From there, I strongly urge banks to work with your customers to take advantage of the good liquidity in both SOR and SORA markets in the next 6-12 months to proactively transition legacy contracts. 26 If we manage to front load this work early and transition the substantive bulk of legacy books by early 2022, this will leave ample time for us to deal with any residual tough legacy transactions. That would be a good place to be in, when we meet again this time next year. 27  Thank you very much, I wish you all fruitful discussions for the rest of this webinar. ***  [1] The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) is a non-profit organisation that represents the interests  of the commercial and investment banking community. The Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee (SFEMC) aims to foster the growth and development of Singapore as a leading global financial centre in Asia, with a specific focus on foreign exchange, money markets, fixed income and derivative markets. https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/speeches/2021/pushing-ahead-with-sor-sora-transition-in-2021  6/7  12/02/2021  "Pushing Ahead with SOR-SORA Transition in 2021" - Keynote Speech by Mr Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director (Markets …  [2] The Steering Committee for SOR & SIBOR Transition to SORA or SC-STS is an industry-led Steering  Committee tasked with overseeing the transition from SOR to SORA. The SC-STS is chaired by Mr Samuel Tsien, Group CEO of OCBC Bank and ABS Chairman. [3] See relevant announcements here .