There is reason to believe that this time is different: that technology will indeed transform financial services in a way that has not happened before. It has much to do with the concept of mobility. First, mobility of technology. •  Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have become common-place. •  People do not just connect and surf from their home computers anymore – they also do so from their mobile devices, while on the go. This has profound implications for how financial services are offered and consumed. Second, mobility of ideas. •  Today, online platforms provide a variety of social networking and peer-to-peer services. And people are increasingly comfortable using these services. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  •  These services have compressed time and space: interaction is real-time and information exchange transcends physical boundaries. •  They allow information, knowledge and ideas to be shared widely across communities and geographies. Third, mobility of payments. •  In the past, it used to take several days and cost quite a bit to pay someone in another country or currency. •  Today, online payment services have made it possible for people and businesses to transfer funds safely at very low cost. •  This has not only allowed e-commerce to flourish, but also enabled faster and more efficient cross-border financial services, like lending and borrowing. We are looking at a financial services industry that will be increasingly driven and powered by technology.
•  Honduras is developing a land title registry system based on distributed ledgers  •  Other potential applications talked about include registry of intellectual property rights, supply chain management, electronic voting systems, medical records, etc. Fourth, cloud computing. Cloud computing is an innovative service and delivery model that enables on-demand access to a shared pool of computing resources. It provides economies of scale, potential cost-savings, as well as the flexibility to scale up or down computing resources as requirements change. There is a view among some quarters that “MAS does not like the cloud”. This is an urban myth, not true. •  Well, MAS did have concerns about cloud computing previously. •  This was because cloud services were at the time not sufficiently secure to safeguard the sensitive information that FIs held. •  But cloud technology has evolved considerably and there are now solutions available to address these concerns. •  –  For example, FIs can now implement strong authentication and data encryption to protect their data in the cloud. –  MAS has been in dialogue with both FIs and cloud service providers  –  Providers have now become more aware of our security considerations while we have gained a deeper understanding of the safeguards they have put in place. I am pleased to say that several FIs in Singapore have successfully rolled out cloud solutions in the past two years. Fifth, big data. The world is exploding with information.