The industry has moved ahead: In March, Singtel announced a partnership with its Thai associate AIS to link their mobile wallets up, to enable 1.5 million visitors between Singapore and Thailand to use their mobile wallets at over 20,000 physical merchant acceptance points in both markets. Singtel plans to expand this to other regional associates later in the year. b. More broadly, the banking associations of Singapore and Thailand are exploring the possibility of linking their faster payment systems, PayNow in Singapore, and PromptPay in Thailand. If successful, the benefits of instant, low-cost payments for tourists, migrant workers and professionals will also extend to person-to-person payments and even remittances. c. Earlier this month, when India Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Singapore, he used his RuPay card issued in India to pay for a Madhubani painting on a NETS terminal. In order to address the challenges of cross-border linkages, central banks need to promote the adoption of common international standards and work with industry partners 22.  on all sides in order to ease future integration efforts and pave the way for further partnerships. D. CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES (CBDC) As we talk about cross-border linkages, it would be remiss of me not to touch on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). Benoît Cœuré, our next distinguished keynote 23.  speaker, and I, as co-chairs of the BIS’ CPMI and Markets Committee (MC) respectively, jointly issued a report entitled “Central Bank Digital Currencies”12. Many of you would already have read it.
If successful, this will provide alternatives for cheaper, safer and faster cross border transactions. Benoit and my respective committees took a hard look at general purpose CBDC, – and there are many implications - including cost of bank funding, credit provision, and financial 26.  stability with the risk of deposits possibly taking flight to central banks during stress periods. These are issues that will have to be addressed should a central bank be deliberating on issuing digital currencies to its wider population. The CPMI and MC study is a reminder that even as we push the boundaries of payments and aim to utilise the latest technologies, central banks need to carefully assess each change and the larger impact to financial stability as well as monetary policy, before jumping on the bandwagon. E. CONCLUSION These are some of the issues that central bankers are grappling with in Asia, and how Singapore thinks about regulating this innovative area of payments through innovative regulation. With the fast-paced and global nature of changes, cooperation and 27.  dialogue between central banks are more crucial than ever before. I am glad to see many familiar faces from various central banks here today. The conference today is a useful forum for us to continue our dialogue, share important perspectives and keep tabs on the latest developments. 28. Thank you, and I wish all participants here today a fruitful two days ahead. 1 1 Capgemini, World Payments Report 2017 (Developed/Mature APAC includes Australia, Japan, Singapore,  and South Korea.