Strategies to seize opportunities in the new horizon Allow me now to turn to some of the key strategic imperatives for the industry going forward. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  First and foremost is the building of strategic and quality human capital. Human capital can be likened to the indispensable crew that you need for your ship to sail. Shortage of quality talent is one of the most important risks facing organisations globally today and the insurance industry is no exception. The Malaysian Insurance Institute, like many other insurance training institutes around the world, ought to expand investments in personnel with the relevant skills and knowledge in particular the ability to adapt and innovate. In today’s environment, training needs to be continuously changed, in some cases overhauled, to maintain its quality and relevance. Central to this is the industry’s collaboration with and support for training institutes. The experience of practitioners who are experts in their field would enrich training programmer considerably. In this regard, the Bank welcomes the efforts of the industry and the Malaysian Insurance Institute to build bridges with academia through practical collaborations that aim to create a ready pool of productive talent. New approaches and programmes could be tailored against proven methodology implemented by some graduate schools. On the part of Bank Negara Malaysia, the recently established Financial Sector Talent Council is collaborating closely with key members of the financial industry to identify issues surrounding talent gaps and formulate innovative proposals to address such gaps.
This very significant advance in terms of financial regulation should not obscure the progress that still needs to be made regarding the work underway, especially in the areas of market infrastructures (including for commodity markets), tighter regulation of activities included under the designation the “shadow banking system” and the behaviour of market players themselves. Once again, I underscore our collective responsibility, which is to ensure that all of the G-20 countries and, more widely, the international community as a whole apply international standards. Today’s discussions will be divided into four sessions. The first, chaired by Axel Weber, will examine the notion of disequilibrium after the crisis and will allow us to discuss the unpredictable evolution of global imbalances in the medium term, in the light of different assumptions concerning economic growth and savings trends in the different zones. Mario Draghi has agreed to chair the second session that will focus on questions related to supervision and coordination. As I have already said, the current context is characterised by the reform of global governance and regulation, a process given impetus by the G-20. Therefore, at this stage, it seems appropriate to explore topics such as the evolution of the role of international financial institutions and the accomplishments and future progress in harmonising global financial regulations. The third session, chaired by Michel Camdessus, should help us to gain further insight on what could, or should, be the role of central banks in a post-crisis environment.