We are raising the level of professionalism of family wealth advisers by partnering institutes of higher learning to develop and provide customised training. We are also strengthening networks between family offices in Singapore, to facilitate mutual learning and joint investments. Feeling Well: Investing for Sustainability amidst Climate Change Finally, feeling well – or investing to align with personal or corporate values, to make a positive impact, to support a larger social purpose. A growing number of investors are looking at investment through the lens of environmental sustainability – both with a view to managing climate-related risks as well as to support efforts to reduce carbon emissions. From a risk perspective, climate change can impact investments over the long term, either directly or indirectly. Weather and climate-related events can potentially result in direct investment losses. Extreme weather events like floods can impair asset values, at least in the short-term. Changing climactic conditions – like rising sea levels – can have much more lasting effects on the value of exposed assets. Dealing with catastrophic events is not new to financial markets. And not all catastrophic events can be attributed to climate change. But the frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes are increasing. According to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the number of catastrophic events in the Asia Pacific rose from an average of 44 annually in the 1970s to 126 in the early 2010s. Investors cannot ignore the implications of climate change.
4.2  Financial stability  The impact of EU membership on financial stability is more challenging. Given the close integration of the UK financial sector with the rest of the EU, it is imperative that the EU has a robust regulatory framework. This is in the process of being achieved. Through its membership of the EU, the UK is promoting a strong global regulatory framework, and UK authorities have worked in close concert with our European partners to find solutions to the fault-lines of the past. Examples include moves to end Too Big To Fail by enhancing bank recovery and resolution, a solution developed locally at the Bank of England, implemented regionally in the European Union, and now agreed globally through the Financial Stability Board. Given the scale of the UK’s financial sector relative to its economy, the Bank of England also has a special responsibility to the UK, to Europe and the world. The UK must ensure that the  11  See Broadbent, B (2011), “Rebalancing and the real exchange rate”, Speech at Thompson Reuters, London. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  system is robust to shocks and that financial institutions can be resolved in an orderly manner. After all, financial stability is a national responsibility, with the UK taxpayer serving as the ultimate backstop of the UK financial system. The comprehensive reform of the UK’s institutional framework for financial stability since the crisis creates a coherent architecture of national macroprudential and microprudential regulators and supervisors.