Ong Teng Koon
Singapore
“As the old adage says, "A sunken ship watches a thousand boats pass by it, a withered tree sees ten thousand saplings blossom beyond it. (As the old continue to wither away, the new will blossom and lead the way.)" Sir, we will be able to find a new way of polling that will adapt to the new information age.”
“Mr Chairman, the BuildSG Transformation Fund has catalysed many productivity innovation projects last year. In the construction sector, there was a focus on offsite prefabrication to improve productivity.”
“Mr Chairman. I wish to thank the Minister, on behalf of the residents of Blocks 115 and 119 of Marsiling Rise for his kind and compassionate consideration of the situation with the introduction of the Lift Access Grant.”
“But I feel that financial prudence should be about not overspending above a projected cost, a certain limit. It cannot be, but HDB has been telling me this and it is not about putting an arbitrary limit on the costs without taking into account our residents' well-being.”
“Mr Chairman, with the on-going COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen destabilising falsehoods that have hurt our nation. These range from the false closure of Woodlands MRT station; seven countries banning travel to Singapore; to an online falsehood regarding the death of a man in Singapore from COVID-19, when no such death had occurred.”
“Trade associations can also help to mobilise the workers. Our emphasis on lifelong learning will provide a skilled workforce of craftsmen and domain experts. Perhaps what we really need is for the Government to invest in a Mittelstand fund or to start a Mittelstand development bank to catalyse the entire SME ecosystem.”
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“Fiscal responsibility, coupled with steady management of the economy, has allowed more resources to be channelled to the Social Development sector, and I voice support for the Government on this account. A related concern has been the widening income gap and, with it, a high Gini coefficient. It is my view that it cannot be the case that we do not allow the best and brightest and the most entrepreneurial in Singapore to do their best, and erstwhile be appropriately compensated. It is in the country's interest to create an environment where incentives are aligned, and those doing well continue to do so and create a tide that uplifts all boats. This is the way to create wealth and value for the country. We cannot will that the rich be less rich just so that we derive a statistic to appear as an equitable country. They are the engine that creates the wealth so that we can have the wherewithal to channel resources back to help those that are doing less well, to uplift all incomes and, hence, all well-being. To paraphrase what Margaret Thatcher famously said to the British Parliament in 1990, "That you would rather the poor be poorer, and the rich less rich. That way you will never create the wealth for better social services." Our existing tax structure has been one of our strengths and an important factor to incentivise our labour to do their best. Some commentators in the media have called this year's Budget a "Robin Hood Budget" while others in this House have called for even more taxes. I wish to frame our situation in what I Page: 125 think as an appropriate context. This Government has put us in a strong fiscal position because it has exhibited prudence and sound management at every turn.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for allowing me to join in this debate. First of all, I wish to congratulate and applaud the Government for introducing this year's Budget, which undoubtedly is a comprehensive set of measures with a clear direction to help businesses restructure to a higher productive growth path, while at the same time maintain its commitment to a socially responsible and inclusive society. I would also like to voice my appreciation to the Government for returning a modest surplus on last year's Budget, exhibiting discipline and sound management in a time when many governments are in fiscal deficits. A main thrust of this year's Budget is the reaffirmation of this Government's commitment to inclusive growth. I am happy to note that the Social Development Expenditure in this year's Budget continues to grow from the previous years' in a trend that was started in 2006. Page: 124 Many have voiced concerns about this Government's preoccupation with growth. They argue that this Government views growth as an end in itself. I say that this is simply not true. Why do I say this? The evidence points to the fact that there is a direct relationship between growth and Social Development Expenditure. In the years from 2001 to 2005, the economy was weak due to the dotcom crisis and SARS; and as a result, spending in Social Development flatlined between $12 billion and $13 billion. In the years from 2006 to 2012, the economy recovered and the Social Development expenditure grew from $13 billion to $23 billion – this is a 76% increase. This Government fixes the roof while the sun is shining. But the starting point has got to be that the sun is shining.”
“If we succeed in making the Singapore market a safe place, we have not only protected our taxpayers from bailing out failed financial institutions, but also, by extension, we have made global finance safer. Page: 1358 Mr Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, I believe the MAS has taken the sensible and logical step in favouring a principles-based approach, at the same time, retaining flexibility to respond to market conditions by not resorting to strict and prescriptive definitions to try to capture all eventualities. On this, I support the Bill. 1.55 pm”
“It would not make sense if we seek to regulate every new fangled product that comes out of New York or every new hedge fund that opens in London. We should not try to be too strict in our definition of "specified person" because trying to capture all eventualities is too complex without corresponding measurable benefits. It might even be counterproductive by undoing the hard work that we have put in place to position Singapore as a global financial centre. Finance is global, and global firms based in Singapore are not beholden to a jurisdiction that is inhospitable, especially if there is no substantial local market to speak of. We can regulate such global firms with an iron fist and create impractical rules, but they will just leave and we would have tried for nothing. We should also not try to define "specified derivatives contract" too broadly. It is impossible to capture everything that is traded under the sun. And furthermore, if products can fit into a cookie cutter and be standardised to be cleared, chances are, it will not blow up. What will blow up are the third and fourth derivatives of these standard instruments that are, by definition, too difficult to fit into a cookie cutter and, therefore, too difficult to be defined. It is my belief that we should tailor the definitions to our local market. "Specified person" should focus on systemically important Singaporean companies. And "specified derivatives contract" should focus on products that have a nexus to Singapore, for example, derivatives on underliers that are traded on our exchanges, Singapore Dollar products, products that originate from companies whose ultimate parent is based in Singapore, and so on.”
“I would submit that we should not follow these guidelines blindly, but to consider rules enacted by other countries carefully, and to apply them judiciously as it suits our conditions. Rules that we enact have to be fit for purpose. In this regard, I state my support for the Bill. Sir, this brings me to my next point. Given the principles-based position that we have chosen, how do we prevent systemic risks and protect our taxpayers from ever having to bail out our financial institutions? MAS has created a superstructure by mandating OTC derivatives to be centrally cleared on central counterparties and to be reported to licensed trade repositories or licensed foreign trade depositories. The structure has to be made sense of against the definition of "specified person" and "specified derivatives contract", which, I submit, is where the real teeth of this Bill are. Page: 1357 It is my strong belief that, in this regard, we should seek to protect the integrity of our system by concentrating the definition on local players and local products consistent with the local financial landscape. My assertions are premised on the following. New York and London set the pace when it comes to finance. They have a culture of creating financial feats of engineering and innovation. They are the trendsetters while we are the trend followers. Their diverse and deep markets account for the bulk of the volume traded in OTC derivatives. So, really, if Singapore does not yet have the scale or sophistication, we are likely to be at the receiving end of any instability to the global system, instead of being a source of it. And to this end, there is precious little that we can do.”
“The Dodd-Frank Act has been criticised in some quarters and, just this month, the CME group sued the US CFTC to block Dodd-Frank swap reporting rules, because it felt that these rules would impose "costly, cumbersome and duplicative requirements on derivatives clearing organisations". No less influential a figure than CFTC Commissioner Jill Sommers, has, in a speech made on October 2012, admitted to the confusion and uncertainty that Dodd-Frank rules have introduced. She remarked that, in her view, it was a mistake to abandon principles-based approach in favour of a prescriptive one-size-fits-all regime. Lack of clarity, higher compliance costs, potentially cross-border duplicative compliance regimes. She asked and I would pose the same question to the Minister today: can these rules stand the test of time? The MAS, to its credit, is well aware of these criticisms. In a powerful joint statement together with five Asian regulators to CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler on 27 August 2012, MOF expressed its preference for a principles-based approach to achieve the concept of international comity which the CFTC is seeking. Sir, even though Singapore is a small country, we must have the courage of conviction to do what is best for our own interests, according to the geography of our local financial landscape. This courage must be maintained even in the face of accusations of regulatory arbitrage by various international commentators. Singapore, unlike New York City or London, is not the centre of the financial universe. It is not our prerogative to take the lead to be the world's financial police. We have neither the moral obligation nor the legal necessity to be the first mover. However, our duty to responsible global citizenry compels us to support G20 guidelines.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to join the debate. First off, I would like to disclose that I work in the financial services industry. I would like to concentrate my speech on the regulation of OTC derivatives. Sir, in my view, there are two main considerations to formulating an appropriate framework for this issue. The first consideration is what position Singapore wants to take within the spectrum of regulatory regimes, given the need to be a responsible global citizen working under G20 guidelines. The second consideration is, given the position that we have chosen, how would this impact our ability to prevent systemic risks to our financial architecture and, consequentially, the need to use taxpayer's money to bail out failed financial institutions? Sir, the G20 leaders met in the Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and issued a set of guidelines to "rein in the excesses that led to the crisis". It is, therefore, imperative that Singapore must be a responsible global citizen. However, what does this mean in the context of regulating OTC derivatives? There are generally two approaches in the spectrum of regulatory regimes. Should we lean towards a prescriptive rules-based approach or do we want to adopt a more flexible principles-based approach? Page: 1356 The United States is at the forefront of this regime change. It has chosen to take the position of enacting rules-based approaches via the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”