instructions to a more active role in assessment of loan applications before making credit decisions. this is not an easy change. it involves both time and considerable adjustment in the thinking. besides, good tools are a must for a good job : bank employees have to increase their knowledge of the banking business in a market economy and enhance their professional standards. this is precisely one of the objectives of the institute of bankers, and with its newly launched representative office in beijing, the institute will extend its existing good work to the mainland. it will help promote the training of bank employees on the mainland, thereby contributing to the effective financial intermediation and smooth functioning of this crucial part of modern economy. the economies of the mainland and hong kong are now highly interdependent. the institute ’ s beijing representative office will not only serve to enhance professionalism of the mainland ’ s banking sector as a whole, but also contribute to the financial stability and development of both the mainland and hong kong. let me end this address by wishing the institute ’ s beijing representative office every success in its future endeavours.

r gandhi : payment systems - next orbit speech by mr r gandhi, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the launch of the bharat qr code, mumbai, 20 february 2017. * * * good morning everybody i am very happy to be launching the bharat qr code. the qr code development for card payments in india has happened at the most appropriate time ; we are on the threshold of a digital payments ‘ moment ’ and ‘ movement ’. this is a momentous occasion for the payments industry in india with the launch of this global first of its kind, low cost, interoperable, mobile based acceptance solution. i would like to congratulate the payment networks for their enthusiastic collaboration to develop this solution. an innovative interoperable solution, the bharat qr, that is easy to scale, and provides a seamless customer experience, and above all is safe and secure, essential to accelerating india ’ s transition to a less – cash society. i am glad that india is setting yet another standard in the payment arena for others to adopt. since cards began to be used in the country in early 1980s, the industry has set up about 1. 5 million point of sale ( pos ) terminals. however, in comparison to the 800 million cards that have been issued as of now, the number of pos terminals in the country has not been really adequate. among other factors, the high capex and opex associated with traditional pos terminals, have been the major deterrents to the expansion of pos infrastructure. gradually, with increasing mobile density in the country, many developments in the payments space have taken place using this channel, including m - pos on the merchant side. now, qr code based systems leverage mobile usage on the consumer side as well. being asset - light, they become easy to deploy. so, it is but natural that the two developments should come together to offer an efficient, secure and convenient experience for card payments. what makes this development more momentous is that the card payment industry in the country has come together, of course at our direction, to make this process interoperable so that the users get the same experience of card payments – that is, interoperability. no doubt, the visibility to qr code and its consequent widespread usage came from nonpayments area first, followed by non - banks in payments area. these are mostly used by users within the same ecosystem and are not