Financial SyStem DevelopmentS anD their implicationS For the conDuct oF monetary policy

It is a great pleasure to be here in Kuala Lumpur at this celebration of Bank Negara Malaysia’s 50th Anniversary. The two central banks actually have something of a shared history. In the late 1950s, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, as Australia’s central bank was then known, seconded officers to assist with the establishment of Bank Negara. One of them, Tan Sri WH Wilcock, became Bank Negara’s first Governor in 1959. So it is a pleasure indeed to be renewing the relationship in this way here today.