I suspect, increasingly, we will have to take a more risk-specific approach and an activitybased approach with respect to FinTech. This means: Setting thresholds for when regulation kicks in; calibrating regulatory requirements to specific risks; and applying these requirements to activities rather than entities. A good example of our attempt to do this is the new Payment Services Bill, which we will publish for public consultation next week. Our aim is to right-size the regulations, to fit the various new developments that are taking place in electronic payments. Licensees will be regulated according to the activities they conduct, because different activities pose different risks. Finally, there are areas – be it new technologies or new business models – where regulators will never know enough. This is where the regulatory sandbox comes in – to facilitate experimentation in a contained environment. 4/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  Cyber Security Finally, cyber security. As we go more digital and online, cyber risks will mount. And if these risks are not managed well, public trust and confidence in technology will suffer. To fully harness the benefits of digital technology, we must build robust cyber defences and have effective remediation plans when things go wrong. First, cyber surveillance and information sharing. We are pleased to see the official launch in Singapore of the Asia-Pacific Regional Information & Analysis Centre by FS-ISAC. FS-ISAC, or the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre, is a global intelligence gathering and sharing initiative for the financial sector, with over 7000 members worldwide.
The government has taken the first step with MyInfo – a single platform containing personal data submitted to and verified by the government. MAS and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore have done a pilot with several 5/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  banks to enable customers to open a bank account online using MyInfo. The pilot saw application timings shortened by as much as 80%. We are now taking the next step. MAS is working closely with local and foreign banks to explore a Banking KYC Shared-Services Utility that will streamline end-to-end KYC. This means centralising processes such as: leveraging on MyInfo for customer identification and verification; collecting and validating KYC documents; and screening against sanctions and blacklists. The Banking KYC Utility is potentially a transformative project. It will harmonise and enhance KYC checks across the industry. It will improve the quality of risk management while reducing cost and time taken. If all goes well, we hope to see the Utility in place next year. Making Trade Finance Safer and More Efficient: Global Trade Connectivity Network Another area that could do with transformation is trade finance. Today, it is largely paper-based. This is not only inefficient, but increases risks such as fraud and duplicate invoicing. Blockchain technology offers good promise to make trade finance safer and more efficient. Last year, DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank completed a proof-of-concept that demonstrated how blockchain technology could enable banks to detect if an invoice had already been financed.