The UK’s payment systems (including retail payment systems such as Faster Payments and Bacs, and the high value system – CHAPS) connect payment service providers (PSPs) together, as a means of moving money between them. It is therefore vital that the organisations that manage the payment systems dedicate a lot of time to enhancing operational resilience and cyber security. And innovations, including instant payments, will also benefit from a resilient foundation. The Bank’s operation of RTGS, and more recently CHAPS, makes a vital contribution to our overarching mission of maintaining monetary and financial stability. CHAPS is the UK’s high value payment system and settles an average of £ billion each working day, representing 93% of non-cash payments in the UK by 1  https://www.assetnews.com/fintech/europe-trumps-asia-fintech-funding-q2-2019 https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/pdf/UK-Finance-UK-Payment-Markets-Report-2019-SUMMARY.pdf https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2019/payments-a-platform-for-innovation-speech-by-victoriacleland.pdf?la=en&hash=5841227A82F5C75B75FFE32027EEF5EDA61D2C70 4 https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/report/2019/future-of-finance 5 https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/research/technology-cyber-resilience-questionnaire-cross-sector-report.pdf 6 https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/prudential-regulation/discussion-paper/2018/dp118.pdf 2 3  2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  2  value. RTGS is the infrastructure where the key UK payments systems – including CHAPS – ultimately settle, supporting stability across the broader financial system. The area of the Bank that I lead (Banking, Payments and Innovation) has provided real-time settlement through our RTGS infrastructure since 1996. In 2017, as part of our vision to enhance stability, we took the step of bringing the management and operation of CHAPS into the Bank (until then the CHAPS payment scheme was operated by a private sector company – CHAPS Co). The Bank understood and mitigated the risks within RTGS, and CHAPS Co looked at risks in its participants.

India started introducing Islamic financial products and services last year. It has launched its first Islamic stock market index on the Mumbai stock exchange and also licenced a non-bank financing company to operate on Shariah principles. As more countries cater for Islamic finance, the scope for cross-border Islamic finance increases. We are beginning to see more cross-border sukuk issuance within Asia as well as between the Middle East and Asia. Singapore has benefitted from this favourable global environment for Islamic finance. •  Singapore is the only non-Muslim majority country among the top 15 countries for Islamic finance. •  Islamic assets under management have surged nearly fourfold over the last five years. More than 40% of the Islamic assets in Singapore are managed by our asset management industry. •  15 banks are involved in Islamic banking, double the number five years ago. They hold about a third of the Islamic assets in Singapore. •  The rest of the Islamic assets are in outstanding sukuk and takaful. Singapore has had nearly 30 sukuk issuances to-date, with seven in 2013 alone. The prospects for Islamic finance in Singapore look bright. •  More funds continue to be established here, to meet demand from clients in Asia as well as from the Middle East. •  Several corporations have established sukuk programmes in Singapore to tap the market over the next few years. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  We can grow faster when we grow together.