  While we currently plan to start operating the new service with the existing hours for CHAPS, the new service will have near 24x7 capability, and so when there is clear demand we expect, in consultation with industry, to extend operating hours. This flexibility means we can respond quickly to changing demands and an increasingly globalised economy.   We will also provide Application Programming Interface (API) access to users to enable read and write of payments data. The Bank has committed to providing an exposed API to allow external participants to develop sophisticated and automated real-time tools for accessing RTGS transactional and liquidity data. We plan to announce in a few months our initial thoughts on the approach and implementation. And with a visionary new system, we want more participants to be able to benefit from it. In 2018 we expanded direct access to non-bank payment service providers, making it possible for a broader set of firms to compete with banks. Five non-bank payment service providers currently hold accounts in RTGS and many more firms are exploring the possibility of joining. In addition, the renewed RTGS service will further reduce barriers to entry for new players – for example on-boarding will be quicker and testing will be streamlined making joining speedy and efficient. For CHAPS, we expect to be able to meet demand from dozens of new participants a year, rather than a handful as currently. There are two clear benefits from expanding access.
We all know that stable conditions make it easier to arrive at wise economic decisions. When wages and prices chase each other in an unpredictable way, and both interest rates and the exchange rate fluctuate widely as a result of this, with a certain amount of luck or smartness it is sometimes possible to do good business. But most people surely realise that this is not the best setting for either long-term investment or for those who have to live on an earned income or a pension. The head of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, has formulated his view of what monetary policy’s objective should be in roughly these words: inflation should be so low that economic agents do not have to worry about it. Limited room for employment policy Why, then, are there those who still argue that higher inflation would be a good thing? I believe this is mainly because they perceive a conflict between price stability and low unemployment. This perception in turn has its roots in a short-run, cyclical perspective. When economic activity is rising or falling on account of transitory demand fluctuations around a long-term trend, this negative relationship does exist. Rising demand for goods and services generates increased demand for labour and lower unemployment; this tends to be accompanied by rising wages and higher inflation. The opposite also applies. But this does not mean that higher inflation results in permanently higher employment and lastingly lower unemployment.