We ought not to feel embarrassed to confess confusion, to seek advice or indeed to pay for advice. So, we live in a very challenging and pressurised environment. I am in no doubt in my own mind that the revolution which has swept through finance in the past quarter century has been beneficial to institutions and customers alike. We have, I think, now entered a phase where the basic margins may be narrower, where temptations may be greater and more varied, where the pressures to move quickly may be much stronger, and where of course the risks may therefore be rather greater. We all need to exercise skilful discernment and judgement, and I am sure this is as true for corporate treasurers and finance directors as for the rest of us. But it is not my intention to be a killjoy; as I have suggested, there will continue to be exciting new opportunities to explore; and I wish you all a fruitful couple of days here doing just that. BIS Review 15/2000  4
While strong cryptography is a feature of DLT systems, they are not immune to cyberattacks through the widely distributed network of participants. 4/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  And old-fashioned risks like not having enough liquidity to settle transactions can potentially lead to gridlocks in DLT systems which could, in turn, cause systemic risks. The trigger for a co-ordinated regulatory response to DLT came in the cross-border payments space. In 2020, the Bank of Canada and Monetary Authority of Singapore successfully piloted a cross-border DLT-based system that achieved almost real-time fixed income securities trading and settlement. Under the Global Payments Accord of 2024, central banks agreed to upgrade their real-time gross settlement systems to a DLT-inspired infrastructure with a view to connect these systems for safer, faster, and more efficient cross-border payments and settlements. This called for internationally accepted standards for DLT-based payment systems. The FSB and standard-setting bodies worked closely with the newly-formed International Organisation for Distributed Ledger Standards to design a supervisory framework for DLT. DLT networks that performed key market functions like clearing and trade reporting were required to meet specified standards for settlement finality and the security of digital asset custody. Making cloud computing services safer From about 2015, financial institutions increasingly began to use the cloud. With cloud computing, financial institutions could efficiently integrate customer data across platforms to enable sharper consumer insights. The cloud provided scalable storage solutions to meet the real-time demands of trading and analytics processes.