Norman T L Chan: HKMA and the protection of bank customers Speech by Mr Norman T L Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the KPMG Luncheon Talk, Hong Kong, 11 July 2013. *  *  *  Ayesha (Macpherson Lau), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, First of all, let me thank Ayesha and KPMG for inviting me to this Luncheon Talk. When I took up the post of the Chief Executive of the HKMA in 2009, we were faced with the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers saga. As most of you would remember, there was immense public pressure on enhancing the protection of consumers and investors. My colleagues in the HKMA and I have regarded this as one of our priority areas and we have put our hearts and souls into strengthening our regime on banking conduct supervision in the past few years. In 2010, I set up two new departments, namely the Banking Conduct Department and the Enforcement Department, within the HKMA. These are important milestones in the development of the HKMA, and we have indeed turned a new page in protecting bank customers, be they consumers or investors. I would like to take the opportunity of today’s luncheon talk to share my thoughts on this. Why should we provide protection to bank customers? First, let me pose a question “Why should we provide protection to bank customers?” The answer is quite simple.
The findings and recommendations of this report, which will be debated at length today, reveal that it is of paramount importance to improve data in a much more concerted and shared framework for a better international coordination. Ladies and gentlemen, Our one-day high-level meeting will cover a number of themes that are challenging to all of us: Is financial inclusion a challenge for national financial stability? How does it affect monetary policy transmission? What measure should central banks take to safeguard the objectives of financial stability and monetary stability while improving access to financial markets? 6  I remain convinced that making this gathering an annual tradition will enable us to provide the most appropriate responses to meet these challenges. I wish full success to this seminar and wish you a pleasant stay in Morocco. 7