S'pore and HK discuss plans to boost financial sectors

S'pore and HK discuss plans to boost financial sectors

SINGAPORE (AP): Amid a lingering Asian economic crisis, the
central banks of Hong Kong and Singapore discussed plans to boost
their finance sectors at their annual meeting on Saturday.

The two bodies "also exchanged views on economic and financial
developments in the region and their respective economies,"
according to a statement from the Monetary Authority of Singapore
(MAS), the island republic's effective central bank.

They "agreed to study possible payment system (Real Time Gross
Settlement System) linkages," the statement added.

Officials from the two organizations were unavailable for
further details or comment.

Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary
Authority, led a delegation that met their Singapore
counterparts, headed by MAS Managing Director Koh Yong Guan.

Yam later met with Singapore's deputy prime minister, Lee
Hsien Loong, who is also chairman of the MAS. Their discussions
focused "on ways to increase bilateral cooperation between the
two monetary authorities."

Representatives of the de facto central banks have met yearly
since 1995.

In late February, the Monetary Authority of Singapore
announced measures to boost its underdeveloped fund management
industry and position itself for the return of economic growth to
the region.

Since the onset of the financial crisis, Hong Kong has
defended its currency's longstanding peg to the U.S. dollar.
Interest rates in the former British colony have risen, which has
proven monetarily sound but economically painful to individuals
and businesses there.

Asia's central banks have sought to stabilize the region's
currencies since the Thai baht's collapse in July last year,
followed shortly by the plunge in Indonesia's rupiah.

They have discussed ways to restore confidence to the region
and draw international funds back to Asia.