I will leave these to participants in this Roundtable to deliberate on. I believe that the common purpose of today’s Roundtable is to discuss on ways to speed up the migration to electronic payment with special focus on electronic money. This is indeed a good platform for all key stakeholders to provide their thoughts and highlight areas that require further improvement. In conclusion, therefore, I would like to thank OMFIF and the Lafferty Group for their involvement in this Roundtable event. I wish you all success in your deliberations and look forward to your views and suggestions in achieving our common goal. Lastly, I on behalf of Bank Negara Malaysia also wish to register our appreciation to all of you for taking time from your busy schedule to attend this event. 4  BIS Review 69/2010
“Financial globalisation and challenges for prudential policies and macroeconomic management.” Speech by Deputy Head of the Monetary and Economic Department of the BIS, at a meeting of the Institut International d’Études Bancaires, Reykjavik, Iceland, 18 May 2007 (http://www.bis.org/speeches/sp070525.htm). 5  A report written by William Buiter and Anne Siebert in the spring of 2008 for one of the banks that failed later in the year gives sound analysis of the problems facing the Icelandic banking system at the time. See Buiter, William H., and Anne Sibert, (2008). “The Icelandic banking crisis and what to do about it: The lender of last resort theory of optimal currency areas”, CEPR Policy Insight, No. 26, October 2008. (http://www.cepr.org/pubs/policyinsights/PolicyInsight26.pdf). BIS Review 9/2010  5  The build-up So how were these mammoths created? Following a process of consolidation and privatisation, which was largely completed in 2003, the Icelandic banks grew very rapidly. With headquarters in Reykjavik, they expanded their activities abroad, for the most part by acquiring financial institutions in other countries, opening up bank branches, and stepping up their foreign operations. This phenomenal growth was made easier by Iceland’s membership in the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA Agreement provided a legal and regulatory framework based on EU Directives. This meant that the operating licences held by Icelandic financial institutions were not limited to Iceland but included all the countries in the EEA. The European “Passport” gave the banks the scope to operate throughout the EEA, including permission to operate branches in other EEA countries.