CEO Forum 2014
pl en a ry
“Is the world headed towards another financial
catastrophe?”
moderator
Datuk Dr. Hamzah Kassim | CoFounder and Group Managing Director, iA Group Sdn Bhd
“We have arrived at a consensus that another crisis is bound to happen. Globalisation is a big agenda and the institutions to manage global finance are not
keeping pace with the complexity of
global finance.”
panellists
Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani |
Managing Director of Khazanah
Research Institute (“KRI”) on behalf
of Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop,
Chairman, KRI
“We need to create a system of global
finance that allows a more balanced
world economy…In this context, there
is a need to reduce the role of the US
dollar as the reserve currency…Without balanced global financial flows, we
would continue to face periodic financial
crises, occurring with growing intensity
and alarming frequency, requiring the
helping hands of governments to throw
in life jackets to the invisible hands of the
market (life-jacket capitalism). The invisible hand of the market that Adam Smith
referred to so admiringly can be seen every time there is a crisis, waving for help
like a drowning man. The hands become
invisible again during good times.”
Tan Sri Azman Yahya | Executive
Chairman, Symphony Life Berhad
“There are four main trends to consider:
1) Economic cycles. 2) Growing debt. Total debt for the private and public sector
is at unprecedented levels. 3) Diminishing investment ratio. Countries’ investment ratio has dropped from 20%-30%
in the 1960s/70s to below 20%. 4) Unemployment. In 2013, there were 200
million unemployed adults…It would
not be easy to manage a fiscal deficit
because of huge unemployment…If you
ask me when (the next financial crisis will
occur), my answer would be within the
next five years.”
Tan Sri Lin See Yan | Trustee,
Jeffrey Cheah Foundation
“Will there be another Lehman? It is important to look at Lehman in the 2008
crisis where three vulnerabilities are reflected. Firstly, the surge of US debts
led to the property bubble. Second, no
one has figured out the web of securitisations - who owns what and what are
the assets worth? Lastly, but very importantly, what will the government do,
when will the government give bailouts
and to whom? The threat of the ‘big
one’ still remains…Six years on, global
finance is still far from safe.”
Dato’ Dr. Steven CM Wong | Deputy
CEO, Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia)
“I expect that there will be a financial
catastrophe sometime soon. It’s a no
brainer simply because we have accumulated levels of debt and these levels
of debt cannot increase ad infinitum. I
think that the last five years show that
we will muddle through. All these clear
crisp prescriptions to make the financial
system safe are not going to happen…
There has been no change (since 2008),
there has rightly been disappointment
with the G20, and optimism has given
way to realism.”
Dato’ Abdul Rauf Rashid | Malaysia
Managing Partner and Asean Assurance Leader, EY
“EY gives an overall score on emerging
economies by evaluating risk concerns…
EY rated Malaysia as ‘green’ (lowest
risk) rather than ‘orange’ (medium
risk). While the overall score is ‘green’,
there are a few risk concerns: government debt, external debt, inflation,
credit growth ratio to GDP and currency
change over the year...We should be resilient enough to take care of things if
the situation turns for the worse.”
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