iii)  Third, a domestic card association had indicated early on that it would build a shared NFC platform for its member banks, which is able to support over 20 banks  3  Based on statistics from Octopus, HKICL, HKMA. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  to provide NFC payment services. The project would to a large extent achieve the objective of having a piece of interoperable infrastructure. 23. So far, the market-driven approach has served us well. One stored value card company has launched such services, so have four other banks, in partnership with two major card associations. By the end of this year, the shared NFC payment platform I mentioned should be ready for operation. IV. Sound regulatory framework  24. While Hong Kong is well-positioned to capture business opportunities brought by mcommerce, we need a legal and regulatory framework to address the related risks. With that in mind, the HKMA and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau are jointly proposing a regulatory regime for stored value facilities and retail payment systems in Hong Kong. 25. Under the new framework, multi-purpose stored value facilities would need to be licenced and observe a set of regulatory requirements. For instance, it must have a physical presence in Hong Kong and must be a body corporate under Hong Kong law. The issuer must meet a minimum ongoing capital requirement of $ million. There are also “fit and proper” requirements on management and ownership. 26. Of particular importance is the need for adequate consumer protection.
Victoria Cleland: Global action to enhance cross-border payments Speech (virtual) by Ms Victoria Cleland, Executive Director for Banking, Payments and Innovation of the Bank of England, at the Silk Road Cash & Payments conference, Almaty, 29 March 2023. *** Cross-border payments are crucial to the smooth functioning of the global economy, and their importance is growing in our ever more interconnected, global digital economy. The value of cross-border payments is forecast to increase from almost $ trillion in 2017 to over $ trillion by 20271. Yet cross-border payments are typically, though I want to stress not always, slower, more costly, less transparent, and harder to access than domestic payments. And this impacts not just big wholesale players but consumer and remittance payments too. There are instances of payments taking up to 10 days2 and costing more than 10%3 of the payment value, and all too often with timing and cost unknown upfront. The G20 made enhancing cross-border payments a priority in 2020 and developed a roadmapOpens in a new window for delivering improvements. Since then, organisations from around the world have come together and made significant strides to lay the foundations for enhancing cross-border payments.