A private-sector-led panel will be set up later this year to advise the Ministry of Finance and the Monetary Authority of Singapore on matters relating to corporate governance, disclosure requirements and accounting standards. Through feedback from market players and continual reviews, we will continue to refine our regulations to promote competition and innovation whilst maintaining high prudential standards and the stability of the financial system. The future of SEACEN The Asian financial crisis clearly demonstrated that the world has become more inter-linked. Liberalisation of markets in the region resulted in the fortune of each economy being more intertwined to one another than ever before. There is much scope for co-operation, and room for economies to learn from the experiences of one another. Over the past couple of years, there has also been a proliferation of regional and international foras, bringing together regulators and government officials to deliberate the intricacies of financial stability. In this regard, the challenge for SEACEN is to remain attuned to the needs of its various members, and to maintain its relevance by reaching out to its members. The SEACEN Centre has played an important role in facilitating the exchange of information and expertise on financial supervision and the conduct of monetary policy among the staff of SEACEN central banks. There is room for greater co-operation among regulators, as well as with other regional groupings and international financial institutions. SEACEN should explore ways to leverage off the expertise of these various groupings, and to create greater synergies through partnership and co-operation.
These stones could be as large as 12 feet in diameter and represented a value determined by both by the stone’s size, the quality of its craftsmanship and the history associated it. 5 See for example, ‘Money: the unauthorised biography’ by Felix Martin. 3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  3  Societies do not need to have such social technology – there are examples in history of quite advanced 6  societies that have not used it. But modern economies and the changes to living standards to which we have become accustomed would almost certainly be impossible without it. This social technology is of course supported by other technologies - physical, legal and institutional. But these can be very different in different societies and they evolve and change over time. The claims we hold on each other and exchange can be expressed in physical form, like coins or as records in a paper or an electronic ledger. They can be issued or authorised by the state and governed by law - but they do not have to be. In the end, what counts is that the social convention that is money continues to hold. When it fails, when it gets ‘out of order’, the damage to society can be very great. And though money can exist without them and although they can vary, what I have called the supporting technologies matter hugely.