In 2016, the National Bank conducted thematic control through the development of a tool whereby banks made their own assessments of the inherent risk and appropriately determined the activities that they needed to fulfill on different levels of readiness from attacks from the digital space (primary, secondary and advanced level of readiness). Blockchain technology and impact on central banks’ activity The potential of blockchain is immense and is an issue for the central banks as well. At retail level blockchain from Central bank perspective in regards to cryptocurrencies or Central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs) does not exist. However, the concept of a retail CBCC has been widely discussed by bloggers, central bankers and academics. While CBCCs for retail payments remain at the conceptual stage, some central banks have completed proofs of concept for DLT-based applications. One of the reasons for the interest in DLT is that many central bank-operated wholesale payment systems are at the end of their technological life cycles. The systems are programmed in obsolete languages or use database designs that are no longer fit for purpose and are costly to maintain. Project Jasper at the Bank of Canada (Chapman et al (2017)) and Project Ubin at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS (2017)) and STELLA – a joint research project of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan simulate real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS) on a DLT platform. The two projects Jasper and Ubin show that central bank money can be transferred on a distributed ledger in real time, in realistic volumes.

Ravi Menon: Powering the next stage of Singapore FinTech Keynote address by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Singapore-China (Chongqing) Financial Summit, via Video Conference from Singapore, 23 November 2020. * * * Mayor Tang, Minister Teo, Assistant Minister Li, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to the 3rd Singapore-China (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative (CCI) Financial Summit. Let me first thank Chongqing for hosting this Summit. We are honoured to have with us representatives from all ten ASEAN central banks. The global economy is recovering from one of the deepest recessions in history. With COVID19 still raging globally, the recovery has been uneven and remains uncertain. Yet, East Asia – especially China and ASEAN – has held up relatively well. China reacted decisively to contain the pandemic. Its economy has rebounded and GDP has recovered to above pre-COVID levels. ASEAN is not far behind, with ASEAN-5 expected to grow by 7% q-o-q in Q3. Trade between China and ASEAN is booming again. As the rest of the world takes longer to recover, we must step up economic and financial integration between China and ASEAN to sustain the economic recovery in the region. Financial connectivity can play a particularly vital role in supporting this. Taking Stock Through the CCI over the past 5 years, Chongqing and Singapore have strengthened financial connectivity between the Western Region and ASEAN. Corporates from Chongqing as well as the broader Western Region have found Singapore an attractive destination to raise financing.