Ravi Menon: An electronic payments society Keynote address by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Sim Kee Boon Institute Conference on FinTech and Financial Inclusion, Singapore, 19 August 2016. *  *  *  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Singapore has embarked on a journey to become a Smart Nation. •  We want to embrace innovation and harness technology so as to increase the productivity of our businesses and enhance the welfare of our citizens. The financial services sector is well placed to play a leading role in the Smart Nation project. MAS has been partnering the financial industry to create a Smart Financial Centre, where innovation is pervasive and FinTech is used widely. We want to do this to: •  increase efficiency;  •  manage risks better;  •  create new opportunities; and  •  improve people’s lives. A key component of the FinTech agenda is payments. •  All of us – as consumers, employees, or businesses – use payments. •  Payments impacts every sector of the economy. •  So, getting payments right is important; and we need to get it right for the future. That future is digital and mobile, and it is already here. •  Our wallets are overflowing with cards of every type and form. We can dip them, tap them, and now, add them to our mobile phones.
•  But we need to make the payment experience seamless and convenient before adoption can take off. Let me highlight the key infrastructure initiatives: •  promote online fund transfers;  •  simplify acceptance of card payments at retail outlets;  •  facilitate online payment of bills; and  •  enable mobile payments for public transport. Online fund transfers – FAST and central addressing As I mentioned earlier, we have a world-class infrastructure for electronic fund transfers. •  In 2014, Singapore became one of the first countries in the world to build a 24/7, real-time inter-bank fund transfer system. •  We call it FAST; Fast and Secure Transfers. FAST is almost as convenient as cash, but safer and cheaper. •  You can make a payment securely from your computer or mobile device at any time of the day. •  You can receive confirmation of payment within seconds. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  •  If you are a company, near-instant payment and confirmation round-the-clock makes a huge difference to cashflow management. But FAST is grossly under-utilised. One key barrier is that making a payment through FAST requires you to know the bank account number of the person you are sending money to. •  Most of us, I think, do not remember our own bank account numbers, let alone will know the account numbers of those we want to send money to.