Jacqueline Loh: Broadening and deepening Shanghai-Singapore cooperation Keynote address by Ms Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the 4th Shanghai-Singapore Financial Forum, Singapore, 27 November 2018. * * * Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, Director General Dr Zheng Yang Distinguished speakers and guests Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Introduction 1 First, let me thank the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau (“SFRB”) for hosting the 4th Shanghai-Singapore Financial Forum. It is a great pleasure to see our good friends from Shanghai and Singapore at the forum today. Bilateral cooperation between Singapore and China 2 Over the last five years of China-Singapore financial cooperation, our central banks,  regulators, and financial institutions have achieved significant milestones. In particular, bilateral ties in financial services between Singapore and China strengthened significantly this year on the back of recent high-level visits between both countries. a. In September 2018, Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng visited Singapore for the 14th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (“JCBC”). The JCBC meeting saw financial agencies from both sides affirm the strong foundations laid through our collaboration in RMB internationalisation. We also agreed to strengthen supervisory cooperation, enhance financial markets connectivity and expand cooperation in the new area of FinTech. b . In October this year, the third China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”)-  MAS Supervisory Roundtable was held here in Shanghai, chaired by CSRC Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai and MAS Deputy Managing Director Ong Chong Tee.
However, my remarks today will focus on monetary policy. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  from markets in which they are no longer competitive, or relocate part of their production – and thus some jobs – to lower-cost countries, in order to keep pace with their foreign competitors. Individual companies may even have to cease their activities in Switzerland altogether. A study by the KOF research institute shows that, following a Swiss franc appreciation, the segment of lower-skilled workers in particular sees employment numbers fall. 3 However, the same study also points out that, despite pressure on margins, the remaining companies will respond to the franc’s appreciation by stepping up research and development, improving product quality and increasing the number of highly skilled workers they employ. Over time, these measures should lead the industries concerned to become more productive overall. The majority of empirical studies for other countries confirm that, as a general rule, strong competitive pressure increases an industry’s productivity. 4 Moreover, a number of country studies indicate that an appreciation can have a positive impact on productivity. 5 Often, the relationship is reciprocal, with productivity gains themselves leading to a stronger currency. Thus, in contrast to the short term, in the long term one cannot claim a contradiction between an economy’s competitiveness and a strong currency (cf. chart 9). The fact that Switzerland is among the world leaders in competitiveness, despite the strong Swiss franc, confirms this finding.