•  Liberalising access to financial services is not as straightforward as reducing numerical tariff rates on particular categories of merchandise. •  Financial liberalisation involves addressing issues of harmonising regulatory standards, market conduct practices, disclosure requirements, and conditions of licensing. More so than in trade integration, financial integration requires a certain degree of convergence in the development of financial markets in the respective economies. The financial systems across ASEAN are at very different stages of development and sophistication. Unlike the goods market and most services, financial liberalisation and integration must pay close heed to issues of systemic stability. A key lesson from past financial crises is that premature opening up of financial markets without strengthening domestic financial systems and establishing credible safety nets can have painful consequences. While there are good reasons why financial integration has been slower than trade integration, one cannot help but think that progress could have been faster than what we have seen to-date. In that sense, the pace of financial integration is disappointing. ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors are therefore determined to make up for lost time and press ahead with liberalisation in the post-AEC phase leading up to 2020. While the pace of financial integration has not been as fast as we would have liked, it is important that we recognise the progress that has been made and the opportunities that have been created. Let me now touch on the progress and prospects for integration in banking, insurance, and the capital markets respectively.

Yves Mersch: The future of Europe’s financial market infrastructure – the Eurosystem’s Vision 2020 Speech by Mr Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the Sibos conference, Singapore, 14 October 2015. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, members of the panel, The beauty of innovation is that it never ends. Even the best ideas can be enhanced and complemented. The Eurosystem, the euro area’s network of central banks, has developed two major innovations in the field of financial market infrastructure over the past 15 years: TARGET (now TARGET2) and TARGET2-Securities, or T2S. Both platforms have significantly improved the way payments and securities are processed in Europe. However, as we look to the future, we see room for further enhancements and consolidation. As we think about where we want to go next, I should stress that our vision for market infrastructure integration is not, nor should be, ours alone. Following the success of our collaboration with the market during the development of T2S, we intend to take the same approach going forwards – to work together with the market to identify what its needs are and to draw on the expertise in both the public and the private sectors. Through collaboration we will define where European market infrastructure should be heading. As we think about future innovation, allow me to look briefly at past innovations. The digital camera, the mobile phone and the internet were three revolutionary innovations of the last century.