(iv)  More efficient retail payments  Given its legal mandate, one of the priorities of the Central Bank is to contribute to the development of the retail payment system in a manner that strikes a right balance between security and innovation, efficiency, and inclusion. The Central Bank will continue with an active agenda in this area, just as in previous years, although the focus might shift from “traditional” issuers and acquirers of payment cards towards fast or instant payments. In the near future, it is urgent to solve frictions that affect the market of payment cards, which may affect incentives of market participants to continue the path of development that we have seen in recent years after changes in regulation made by the Central Bank. Recently, new acquirers and issuers of prepaid cards have entered the market bringing competition and alternatives to persons and merchants, and the use of digital payment instruments has had a huge increase. This is the result of long-standing efforts, and momentum gained during the pandemic with a wider use of digital payments. 12  Regarding fast or instant payments, there is an international trend to implement systems that allow funds to be received by the final beneficiary as soon as it is triggered by the payer. In Chile, this has been the standard for a long time for electronic transfers of funds, but we believe that there is still room to improve.
“Recent developments in the Chilean Financial System and Challenges ahead” Rosanna Costa, Governor of Central Bank of Chile Chile Day – December 12 and 13, 2022 – London, United Kingdom Good morning distinguishes authorities and dear friends. I am going to talk about the recent developments in the financial system in Chile and the view of the Central Bank of the challenges ahead. Introduction In December of last year, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Chile (and nowadays the Minister of Finance) presented in this very same forum in London about the developments and prospects of the Chilean economy. By then, our country was going through a process of strong recovery from major shocks that affected our economy: first the social unrest of 2019 and then the pandemic of Covid-19. Therefore, the discussion last year focused on the aftermath of the pandemic and the different measures that were adopted by the Central Bank and the government to mitigate its effects on the real economy. Since July 2021, the Central Bank has been hiking the monetary policy interest rate, due precisely to strong pickup of household consumption driven by governmental aids and pension funds withdrawals. A year ago, the Central Bank also raised a note of caution for 2022 and 2023 due to the weakening of the capital markets, identifying several factors including the reduction of long-term savings due to pension withdrawals and its impacts on access to long-term financing for companies and individuals, risk of fiscal deterioration and persistent uncertainty, among others.