The Bank has already established arrangements under which non-bank payment service providers could access RTGS directly. We are now using the Fintech Accelerator’s proof-of-concept approach when considering how new technologies can plug into the renewed RTGS. We recognise the potential for new technologies to create a more distributed and diverse payments system. So we are doing a proof-of-concept with a small cohort of firms to consider how our renewed service could interface with 15  innovative settlement systems , such as those built on distributed ledger technology. The proof of concept is designed to assess the demands that would be placed on central RTGS infrastructure by a range of fintech firms’ settlement models, rather than assessing the specific offering provided by a particular firm. By allowing a range of system structures to access the new RTGS system, the Bank can support innovation in the private sector. And the Bank of England is continuing to investigate ways in which fintech could help to improve regulation, building on existing work internally and in collaboration with the FCA. We have initiated work to understand how machine readable technology could be applied to the next iteration of the PRA rulebook, and will continue to work closely with the FCA to understand the potential for machine readable regulation. We are also investigating if machine learning could be deployed to support judgement based supervision, via its application to both structured and unstructured data. Investment in the UK’s financial technology is going to be an important factor in sustaining the UK’s global position.

The strengths within Asia has been most evident in the recent global financial and economic crisis. Asia has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of the unprecedented international financial crisis. Most regional economies have seen positive growth since the second half of 2009, with prospects for a sustained recovery. The region has benefited from strong fundamentals and the financial reforms undertaken in this recent decade which has enabled the region to recover faster with a stronger performance. BIS Review 43/2010  1  Several other factors have contributed to this early recovery. First, the region had policy flexibility to respond to the consequences of the international financial crisis. Strong fiscal positions, including relatively low public debt levels, have allowed many Asian governments to implement larger fiscal stimulus. Second, the financial sector in the region is in good health. Disruption to credit flows to the private sector have been avoided. Third, households and the corporate sectors in Asia are not over leveraged, and thus are in a better position to resume consumption and business activity once confidence had returned. Fourth, Asia is also not plagued with wide scale unemployment. Fifth, increased intra-regional trade has contributed significantly to the resumption of international trade in most of the regional economies. The strong surge in exports in the regional economies in the recent months is due primarily to the significant rise in intra-regional trade. Strengthening of regional integration Regional integration will become an increasingly important factor in sustaining the future growth in the region.