For the euro area I will say clearly: we need for cross-border banking institutions a European Resolution Authority, including or combined with a Resolution Fund, as well as a European Supervisor. This requirement is not only a necessity stemming from the high degree of interconnectedness among euro area banks, but  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  constitutes also a major lesson of the present crisis. Indeed, some of the major imbalances that are besetting the euro area stemmed from uncontrolled behaviour of some banking sectors that eventually contaminated the sovereign. However, in the longer term, one can only envisage an integral EU resolution framework on a full EU basis, reflecting the highly integrated financial system in the EU. In parallel with the establishment of an EU resolution fund, we could gradually also start preparing to set up an EU-level resolution authority. Following a pragmatic approach, we could focus on the recently established Cross-Border Stability Groups. Common practical guidelines and blueprints could be prepared for them to foster a more harmonised approach for resolution across jurisdictions. With a more forwardlooking approach, on the basis of frequent peer reviews, qualitative assessments and stocktaking of best practices, we could gradually explore the possibilities of entering into more binding multilateral agreements within these groups, which in turn would pave the way for an EU-level authority. We should not forget that the supervisory reform process based on the De Larosière proposals is not yet finished. The review of the new EU supervisory authorities is scheduled for 2014.
I hope this report will inspire new ideas to help solve corporate KYC problems in the most cost-efficient way because this is a problem that needs to be solved. We tried, we failed, we will learn, and we will do better next time. Innovation is about experimenting and learning from setbacks. Just as we showcase our successes, let us also be open about our setbacks. This is the spirit of enterprise we need in the financial sector and in Singapore. And we will continue to explore other ways to alleviate KYC pain for FIs and their customers. MAS and the GovTech are now working with the industry to facilitate FIs’ credit assessment of SMEs using trusted government data. 4/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  Today, young SMEs that wish to obtain bank financing may face difficulties due to the lack of credit history. We will help pool trusted data from government sources on the business and key individuals associated with the SMEs to facilitate a more informed credit assessment. We will run a pilot with three banks in the first half of next year. Payments Next, payments. We have substantially completed Singapore’s national e-payment infrastructure. There is FAST, a 24x7 real-time funds transfer infrastructure. There is PayNow, which rides on FAST to enable instant money transfer to an individual or business, using their personal ID number, mobile phone number, or unique entity number.