gdp. in contrast, the average ratio for high users of electronic payments such as in the scandinavian economies is only 2. 9 %. the use of cheques is also dominant in our financial system, accounting for 96 % of the total value of non - cash payment instruments. these indicators suggest that measures to encourage more active use of e - payments would need to go beyond building the electronic payment infrastructure. it needs to address the broader issues revolving around building public awareness and confidence, promoting greater convenience ; reviewing business and operating practices and finally, addressing the commercial interfaces between the customers and the service providers. allow me to take this opportunity to elaborate on these issues. ladies and gentlemen, e - payment increases operational efficiency and improves productivity levels through expedient payments and receipts of funds as well as through the reduction or redeployment of resources used for handling cash and cheques. whilst the migration to e - payment may require considerable investment and effort to provide the enabling infrastructure, the use of e - payments provide consumers with greater convenience and security that would result in cost savings in the long run. in this regard, it is important for the financial institutions and payment service providers to provide more widespread access points for electronic payment services via multiple channels, including the automated teller machines, the point - of - sale terminals, the gated toll and parking gantries and through the network channels and devices, such as the internet and the mobile phones. needless to say, the payment products and services need to be continuously enhanced to meet the changing needs of the consumers. in addition, the efforts to increase the use of e - payments will not only hinge on the capacity of the service providers to ensure that e - payment services are convenient, but also secure. in the area of fraud prevention, the industry would need to be constantly vigilant to maintain consumers'confidence. robust technology and strong internal controls must be in place to protect and preserve the integrity of the financial system. in line with this objective, our banking institutions have successfully replaced the magnetic stripe atm and credit cards with chip - based cards to ensure a more secure environment for payment cards. this move has effectively eliminated counterfeiting and fraud involving atm and credit cards in malaysia. this has provided malaysia with the platform to further enhance payment card services by maximising the chip infrastructure. the conclusion of this year will see the completion of the industry - wide migration to europay - mastercard - visa ( emv ) standards with all of the point -

payments industry may wish to consider establishing a payment system association to deal with the industry - wide issues involving electronic payments. a payment system association would be able to address the lack of common technology standards between service providers to promote interoperability, and the lack of a collective forum to identify, understand and manage the spectrum of stakeholders'interests and expectations. i should add that this idea is not new, as payment associations are already in existence in several other countries. ladies and gentlemen the future landscape of the payment industry is one that will continuously evolve with market innovations, resulting in enhanced services that offer improvement in efficiency and cost savings compared to traditional payment methods. bank negara malaysia will continue to play the role of a facilitator to spearhead the development and improvement of the payments system infrastructure and to promote a conducive enabling environment for such developments to take place. in this respect, bank negara malaysia has taken several initiatives to promote greater use of electronic payments by the public sector and in bringing about a mindset change amongst the users. several taskforces have been established, involving users and service providers to promote the sharing of information and cooperation amongst the players, to develop industry - wide best practices and security standards, and to collaborate with relevant agencies to promptly deal with security infringement issues. bank negara malaysia is also currently undertaking a series of measures to increase the efficiency and reduce risks in the payment systems, and facilitate a progressive transformation and migration of the payment systems infrastructure. in this regard, a cross - border link between the ringgit and the usd settlement systems in hong kong, that is the rentas and usd chats in hong kong, will be established to reduce foreign exchange settlement risk via a simultaneous payment versus payment mechanism between ringgit and usd in the same time zone. a cheque truncation system is also being developed to improve operational efficiencies through the elimination of the physical movement of cheques with the use of electronic images and data. bank negara malaysia also aims to provide a conducive regulatory framework that is supportive of market - based innovation and ensuring transparency for the benefit of consumers. in this regard, i certainly hope that the results of your deliberations in this payment systems forum and exhibition 2005 will provide valuable input for the formulation of strategies and modalities for both the industry and authorities to accelerate the migration to e - payments in malaysia. it is also hoped that the exhibition will heighten public awareness of the various payments products and services available