Shanghai, 7 January 2019 – Speaking today at the opening plenary session "From quantitative easing to quantitative tightening" of the 19th UBS Greater China Conference (GCC), Dr. Janet L Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System (2014-2018) said she expects the Fed to take a pause from rate hikes.
"It makes sense to call a timeout to evaluate policy." She also noted that the labor market was tight and getting tighter. "I would anticipate that one or two rate hikes could be needed to stop the U.S. economy overheating," Dr. Yellen said.
Dr. Yellen was speaking on a panel at the 19th UBS Greater China Conference in Shanghai today, alongside the former Governor of the People's Bank of China, Dr. Zhou Xiaochuan, who told investors that he expects China to pursue "more proactive fiscal and monetary policies in these circumstances."
"We still have room for quantitative adjustment for monetary policy," Dr. Zhou said, "Monetary policy will continue to support economic growth, job creation and investment on the basis of stabilizing prices. We hope to see better cooperation between fiscal policy and monetary policy. China is going in a good direction for a better exchange rate policy."
Chairman of the UBS board of directors, Dr. Axel Weber joined in the discussion: "The European Central Bank is clearly in a wait-and-see mode. The amount of uncertainty and volatility is a factor monetary policy has to look at. Uncertainty per se has been at a record low. Uncertainty has normalised as monetary policy has normalised."
The UBS Greater China Conference, which runs from 7 to 11 January in Shanghai, attracted more than 1800 institutional investors and 230 China-focused companies and funds.
Media contacts
Hong Kong: +852 2971 8221 (Mark Panday), +852 2971 6884 (Angel Yeung)
Mainland China: +86 189 1139 3363 (Joanna Sin), +86 21 2029 4836 (Joco Hu)
Notes to Editors
About UBS
UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. UBS' strategy is centered on our leading global wealth management business and our premier universal bank in Switzerland, enhanced by Asset Management and the Investment Bank. The bank focuses on businesses that have a strong competitive position in their targeted markets, are capital efficient, and have an attractive long-term structural growth or profitability outlook.
UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 52 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 14% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 61,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
