This means that, in addition to clarifying our own thoughts, we are up to a point in the business of persuasion. Ours is not a system of postal voting. It is a system of listening to and learning from each other. Second, with qualifications, some of the MPC’s communications are relatively more collective. In particular, our communications on a broadly shared ‘model’ of how the economy works, and our forecasts of the outlook for growth and inflation. In 1998, the (then) Committee published a paper on the Monetary Transmission Mechanism; and, in a 2007 paper to the Treasury Select Committee of Parliament, we described our view of material changes in the workings of the economy during the Committee’s first ten years. Both were agreed, collegiate-like documents, while not committing every member to every proposition. Much the same can be said of our quarterly forecasts and Inflation Reports, which play a central role in the MPC’s system. Our forecasts are the projections of the policymakers not the supporting analytical staff. It is striking that the ‘individualistic’ MPC publishes a common forecast, whereas the somewhat more-collegial FOMC has long published information (the central tendency and range) about the forecasts of its individual members (without the names). The FOMC’s approach allows the range of central projections to be transparent. It is  3  See Tucker, P M W, ‘Reflections on operating inflation targeting’, speech at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, July 2006, Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Q2 2006, pp 212-224.

The advent of digital currencies as some have forecasted, will mark the beginning of a new era in the financial sector. As authorities, we cannot be oblivious to these developments. As such, Bank Negara Malaysia has initiated the foundational work for the development of a regulatory structure for digital currencies. Beginning 2018, Bank Negara Malaysia will designate persons converting crypto currencies into fiat money currencies as reporting institutions under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. This is to prevent the abuse of the system for criminal and unlawful activities and ensuring the stability and integrity of the financial system. Strategic partnership Dynamic collaboration between the public and private sector is imperative to create an environment conducive for the creation of innovative solutions. One of the main findings from the Global FinTech Report published by PWC recently is that legislation is not keeping pace with innovation, creating significant uncertainty. This tells us that a more adaptable structure in policymaking, that minimises bureaucratic hurdles or “red tape”, could be advantageous under the current dynamic environment to encourage potentially important innovations. For that reason, Bank Negara Malaysia launched its very own FinTech Regulatory Sandbox in 2016 to allow experimentation of FinTech solutions in a ‘live’ environment. A number of innovative financial solutions have been allowed to operate under this Sandbox initiative, including an e-KYC solution that could revolutionise the AML/CFT framework in the financial sector in Malaysia.