would allow wider access to central bank payment and settlement systems both in time and space. in an extreme case in which cbdc provides the same functionality as banknotes as an alternate measure, it could enable everyone to access central bank accounts 24 / 7, year - round. some overseas central banks have started to consider the rationale for or to conduct researches and analyses on cbdc. also, amid the global trend of fintech, some non - bank companies and their services, such as paypal in the united states and wechatpay in china, have built up a large presence in payment and settlement services, and the structure and composition of payment service providers are now changing rapidly. accordingly, some overseas central banks have started to reconsider to whom they should allow access to their payment and settlement systems. as economic globalization and technological innovation advance, the environment surrounding central bank payment and settlement systems is entering a new phase. iii. initiatives taken by the bank of japan the bank of japan has been continuously improving its infrastructure. we established the bojnet in the 1980s, and then introduced rtgs and liquidity - saving features. in 2015, we started full - scale operation of the new boj - net. although economic globalization and technological innovation are causing dramatic changes in payment and settlement infrastructures, we are confident that the boj - net can keep up with such changes and continue serving as a core infrastructure in the new era. at the same time, regarding how central banks should provide their infrastructures under the changing environment, we need to consider various issues. first, there is the issue of how to strike an appropriate balance between central bank money and private - based money in the economy, and between the stability in settlements and private - led innovation. these are classical issues. nonetheless, as new fintech players have increased their presence in payments and settlements, big - data attached to payment and settlement transactions is becoming more important as a source of added - value in various businesses. we will need to focus not only on the classical issue of “ desirable sharing between central bank money and commercial bank money, ” but also on new payment instruments carrying additional information provided by new players such as “ non - bank fintech firms. ” the emergence of these new payment instruments will make things far more complicated. second, it is crucial for central banks to ensure the security of central bank payment and settlement systems, which are the core infrastructure of the economy. we may also need to consider how to manage the information

under financial globalization, the global financial crisis showed that liquidity crises can spill over to other jurisdictions. it is therefore important to ensure liquidity sources through collateralized transactions such as repos, also from the viewpoints of controlling moral hazard, deterring overdependence on central bank llr and maintaining global financial stability. financial institutions, including japanese banks, typically hold large amounts of government securities issued by their home countries. accordingly, it is becoming important to establish a facility by which banks can raise foreign - currency liquidity in host countries through collateralizing government securities issued by home countries. under such circumstances, central banks need to consider how and to what extent they provide their own infrastructures including high - value payment systems and securities settlement systems in order to support such collateralized transactions. for example, in terms of the “ space ” dimension, central banks will have to consider whether and to what extent they should respond further to facilitate settlements with finality also on a cross - border basis. in retail payments, increased economic activities at night and on weekends are requiring initiatives called “ 24 / 7 instant payments ” that enable real - time payments to be made 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. retail payments made at night and on weekends may cause an increase in unsettled amounts among commercial banks and other entities. there are risk - management methodologies to deal with such unsettled amounts through collateral and credit limits. as an ultimate measure to reduce such unsettled amounts, however, a central bank might be able to take decisive action in terms of time and provide settlements with finality also at night and on weekends. indeed, such action is now being considered in europe and australia. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches innovation in information technology and central bank payment and settlement systems meanwhile, innovation in information technology is making the cost of handling cash more visible. in addition, while virtual currencies such as bitcoin have emerged under the trend of fintech, some people argue that central banks should consider issuing digital currencies, which could partially replace banknotes. such arguments would mean applying digital technology even to banknotes, which have always been based on paper - based technology. this could have a substantial impact on the traditional concept of banknotes. at the same time, central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) is one of the issues in considering the role of banknotes and central bank payment and settlement systems. if cbdc is directly issued to the general public, it