On many issues, we share common interests and positions. In 2010, MAS and Bundesbank established a cross-border collateral arrangement to enhance liquidity provision by widening the pool of eligible collateral for banks. MAS has a Supervisory Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BaFin that provides for mutual assistance and sharing of supervisory information in banking and insurance. MAS also participates in the annual Deutsche Bank Supervisory College for non-EU regulators and we are pleased to have hosted the most recent one last November. Given that financial activities are often cross-border in nature, such international co-operation will be of increasing importance, including to facilitate innovative services as well as to mitigate the risks that some these may present. It is also in this spirit that I congratulate the establishment of this partnership forum. It is an excellent example of a co-operation platform that allows our industry players to engage one another in open discussions, to identify common challenges and working opportunities. This forum also provides for perspectives from government, central bank, regulator and academia. 1/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  Future of banking Allow me now to share some thoughts on the conference theme around the future of banking. This is clearly a topical subject in the face of the ongoing Technology Revolution around us. Many of us will probably have heard of the famous quote by Bill Gates, that “people do not need banks, they need banking”.
The EU has started on this journey by making payment and data interconnectivity between banks and non-banks mandatory, through the Payment Services Directive 2. Australia has also announced that it will legislate a national Consumer Data Right in 2018, allowing consumers open access to all their data including banking-related ones. While these hold a lot of promise by promoting consumer interests and welfare, there are other details to consider. For example, what primary data rightfully belongs to the customer, and what about secondary data about the customer that a bank had made sense of? How should a customer’s data be packaged for onward sharing? How do we develop technical standards to share this information efficiently and securely? Who should pay for these? In Singapore, we subscribe to the notion of banks sharing their data openly as a larger good. Some of the operational details have to be worked out. In MAS’ engagement with the banking industry, there is broad consensus as to the benefits of open banking. What we see is an opening up of customer data as a ground-up process led by the banks themselves. We believe this is a constructive development, that industry players themselves see the value in doing so. Role of financial regulators In my remarks so far, it should be obvious that financial regulators will have active roles in the business and technology transformation in the banking industry. Regulators need to have a sharp understanding of emerging technologies and new business models, and to be alert to potential risks.