haruhiko kuroda : integrating information and financial systemsbeyond as - a - service remarks by mr haruhiko kuroda, governor of the bank of japan, at the fin / sum 2021, 16 march 2021. * * * introduction i am delighted to be given this opportunity to speak to you at the fin / sum 2021 through a video message. rise of as - a - service the main theme of this year ’ s fin / sum is “ fintech as a service, in search for a platform for digitalized society. ” the term “ as - a - service, ” appearing more frequently nowadays, seems to indicate servitization of product functions or, to put it simply, a business model for providing “ services ” on customer demand, instead of “ sales ” to sell products out to customers. for example, a software service used to consist of a combination of purchase and usage. in the internet society, however, we only have to call for necessary services when they are needed. when we make a restaurant reservation on a smartphone, we only receive a reservation service. as for business activities, various business applications are available — for services such as accounting, ordering and invoicing, customer management and sales support, and human resources and labor management — as software as a service ( saas ) to be called on demand. these developments are not limited to software. various types of as - a - service are appearing one after another, partly with the shift toward a service economy. these include mobility as a service ( maas ) — where a user purchases a mobility service instead of owning a car — and infrastructure as a service ( iaas ) — where a user purchases a service to use it infrastructure, including servers, instead of owning the hardware. these are sometimes collectively referred to as “ everything as a service ” ( xaas ). as - a - service in finance the trend of as - a - service is also emerging in finance. the financial businesses of banking, securities, and insurance are industries that require large fixed costs and strict compliance with regulations. for this reason, instead of recreating financial businesses from scratch, it has become mainstream for fintech providers to utilize deposit and loan services of traditional financial institutions through an open application programming interface ( open api ) to create new customer services and convenient and comfortable user experiences. the bearers of these services are wide - ranging. they are not limited to startups but include large firms with core businesses in

kombination 2. 0 is only possible if this digital transformation takes place. in baas, the componentization and loose coupling of a bank ’ s internal systems have enabled its systems to be linked in a costless, fast, and flexible manner. in other words, the loose coupling within a bank at the micro level has enabled service creation in coordination with other industries, which leads to a redesign of the industrial structure at the macro level. moreover, improvements in development costs and speed through technological innovation and development method innovation have enabled high - speed cycles of continuous integration and continuous delivery ( ci / cd ). the advantage of these it systems that tolerate trial and error has also become the trigger for transforming the corporate culture of the financial industry. originally, the financial industry was an information industry as well as an equipment industry. financial institutions and the financial service industry therefore have the potential to leverage the benefits of digitalization to their fullest. i believe that we are currently facing digital transformation challenges in the move toward neue kombination 2. 0. central bank digital currency finally, i would like to touch upon central bank digital currency ( cbdc ). since the release of “ the bank of japan ’ s approach to central bank digital currency ” in october 2020, the bank of japan has been preparing to conduct experiments in accordance with this approach. we are finally scheduled to begin these experiments in spring 2021. while there is no change in the bank ’ s stance that it “ currently has no plan to issue cbdc, ” from the viewpoint of ensuring the stability and efficiency of the overall payment and settlement systems, we consider it important to prepare thoroughly to respond to changes in circumstances in an appropriate manner. central banks share the view that it is not an appropriate policy response to start considering cbdc only when the need to issue cbdc arises in the future. according to a recent survey of 65 central banks conducted by the bank for international settlements ( bis ), 86 percent were exploring the benefits and drawbacks of cbdc issuance for some forms of work and about 60 percent were conducting experiments or a proof - of - concept ( poc ). as for the bank, amid significant changes that are occurring with the advent of the digital society, we will take this opportunity to carefully consider the way in which we should provide central bank money, or, using expressions from today ’ s theme, “ central banking as a service. " closing remarks we are delighted to see a rich variety of participants attending this year ’