Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus: Keynote address - Regional Conference on Climate Change Keynote address by Ms Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Regional Conference on Climate Change, Kuala Lumpur, 25 September 2019. * * * It is my pleasure to welcome you to today’s Regional Conference on Climate Change. The recent shroud of haze in Malaysia and neighbouring countries is a timely reminder of the environmental challenges confronting our generation and the generations to follow. With the passing of time, these challenges have become more pressing, and their consequences more dire. Yet, our response – at the industry, national and global level – is only just beginning to catch up to the enormous task we face. As described by the former UN Secretary-General, “we are the last generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change”. Climate change does not just threaten polar bears in the Arctic. It also threatens our socioeconomic prosperity here in Southeast Asia. It poses risks to the fiscal position of governments, the viability of businesses and the living standards of individuals. As such, the effects of climate change are not merely an ecological problem for scientists and conservationists to worry about. It presents a major economic issue with direct implications on financial stability. It is for this reason that Bank Negara Malaysia, along with many other central banks around the globe, are giving serious attention to climate risk.
In 2017 alone, Bank Negara Malaysia has processed applications from 43 new non-bank players, an increase of 91% compared to the past two years. This is in line with global developments where the size of the global payments industry has increased to account for 34 percent of overall banking revenues in 2016 and is projected to become a $ trillion dollar industry by 2020. This is a significant turning point. In essence, the traditional 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  payment channels are increasingly being replaced by nimble, innovative and lower cost alternatives. We must embrace the next wave of technological and e-payment transformation. As a nation, we need to rise and seize this exciting opportunity, take a proactive rather than a reactive role, and benefit from the enormous opportunities brought about by technology to improve our payment system’s security, efficiency, productivity. We need to bereft ourselves of the inertia to move forward with the times. There are a few strategies we ought to adopt, to reduce further the wastage arising from the cost of maintaining two parallel systems by accelerating the displacement of cheques, harness the pervasiveness of mobile payments to ensure reach, and focus on solving the last mile obstacles to enhance migration to e-payments. The enormous cost of maintaining two parallel systems Cheque is a very costly payment instrument to process compared to electronic fund transfer.