And this will hopefully help us to avoid the type of situation I described earlier, when we failed to take remedial action to prevent the build up of risk in Swedish banks operating in the Baltic countries. But our Nordic-Baltic Cross-Border Stability Group was not built in a day. We have, in fact, held productive exchanges between our countries for years. One milestone was the NordicBaltic crisis management exercise we ran in 2007. We based this exercise on the scenario of a major crisis in a cross-border Nordic bank. By trying to handle an imaginary crisis using actual banks, and applying the institutional and regulatory structures of the different countries, we learnt many lessons on how to overcome stumbling blocks and clarify the distribution of roles and responsibilities. So what I am trying to say is that establishing a well-functioning cooperation structure takes time. So for those countries that have not done so, I recommend an immediate start. And do not be dissuaded by the fact that it is time-consuming. It is this process – leading to closer cooperation – that builds trust between the authorities involved. And when it comes to crisis management, this trust is the glue that holds everything together. Had we had better cooperation and a reasonable level of trust between the authorities concerned, I am convinced that many of the recent European cross-border banking failures  BIS Review 50/2010  3  would have been handled very differently.
Of course, digitalisation would not work without good internet connections. We, therefore, engaged Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on possibility of boosting internet connections in the areas where we held the Greenback activities. With digitalisation, migrants can now send money home anywhere, anytime. This eliminates the need to travel great distance to the nearest town, which 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  can be costly and risky at times. The Project team experienced first-hand the numerous logistical challenges just to get into the plantations. A single journey can take about a 3-hour drive from town. Today, I am happy to note that Project Greenback in Sabah has produced encouraging results. We have sensitised close to 5,000 individuals. More than 1,600 of them have registered to use e-remittance channels. A total of RM6.9 million equivalent worth of remittances were sent from Sabah using echannels. The most encouraging result is that average remittance cost in Sabah has reduced significantly, to below 3%. 8 months ago, it was much higher. Although there is much to be done to increase the numbers, the outcomes are testament that our hard work and perseverance have paid off. We have reached an important milestone and this tells us that technology can be the gateway to financial inclusion. Technology has the potential to be a game changer.