penetration of debit cards and mobile devices, malaysia is well - positioned to transition into a cashless society in the medium term. to continue our collective effort to ensure widespread adoption of e - payments becomes a reality, my remarks today will touch on the following perspectives ; future proofing the malaysian payment infrastructure, embracing digital disruption that will redefine the payment mechanism as we know it, and some thoughts on public engagement and consumer protection. future - proofing malaysia ’ s payments infrastructure the use of big data will provide a competitive edge among payment service providers. payment flows used to be an operational matter, but now have immense strategic value. it has to do with the enormous amount of data and information that the system collects on the payment habits of the public. with data analytics, these data can provide deep insights on consumer and merchant behaviour, and even the economy at large. with this information in hand, there is also the enormous responsibility to ensure that it is not being abused and mishandled. the issue of data security, integrity and privacy relates to the issue of trust, which is crucial for the functioning of any financial system. data security and confidentiality should be a priority for financial institutions. continuous investments in people, system and process will assure customers that their financial affairs are kept secure and private. new payment providers are also emerging. in the age of mobile apps, platform - based companies can overlay existing commercial networks with payment services. in china for instance, this has fuelled the meteoric rise of mobile payments. customer expectations are also changing. whether hailing a taxi or having lunch, today ’ s consumers want things almost instantaneously. they want it now and the same is being expected from the payment system. the payments infrastructure must therefore keep pace with these developments and expectations. it needs to meet the customer ’ s expectations and offer value - added services that enhances the customer ’ s experience. in this regard, the merger between myclear and meps to form paynet last year is an important milestone. by realising the natural synergies and aligning industry resources, paynet is well - positioned to drive the malaysia ’ s payment infrastructure to be future - proof. we should be most excited about the upcoming real - time retail payments platform or rpp. the rpp will be a game - changer for the malaysian payment landscape. it will allow malaysians to make and receive payments conveniently using their ic, mobile and business registration 2 / 5 bis central bankers

border payment offerings to better serve their customers, reduce costs and enhance safety. harnessing greater efficiencies of cross - border payments can be a lucrative area and those who can innovate will certainly benefit most. embracing digital disruption that redefine payments this brings me to my second point. technology, as you know, is fundamentally changing the way we live. many industries have redefined themselves and embraced digital disruption to remain relevant. unlike previous disruptions that came from within the industry, we now see enormous interest in mobile payments and the proliferation of non - bank payment providers. data collected showed an increase in the number of non - bank e - money issuers from 26 in 2016 to 41 as at the end of last month. the bank more than welcomes a more competitive payment landscape. we desire new entrees. we are not in the business of protecting the incumbents. we also do not pick winners and losers. the market will decide those who will prosper. existing players were given this notice long time ago. banks especially, will have to reinvent themselves or risk being disrupted. what matters most, from the public policy perspective, is that malaysian businesses and consumers will benefit from a more vibrant, competitive and efficient ecosystem. we should expect 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches enhanced competition to spur innovation in the products and services that are being offered. globally, we have seen collaborative strategies emerging as a response to the changing market dynamics. from scandinavia to asia, banks in some countries are increasingly competing on a united front. this includes industry partnerships with the payment system operator and fintech firms. in these markets, collaboration on common mobile applications seeks to enable banks to develop more innovative use cases by leveraging on pooled r & d resources, and facilitate mass adoption through common awareness and promotion campaigns. collaborative efforts enable greater economies of scale through the pooling of resources. establishing a common platform among banks defrays the cost of testing out new technologies and new ways of doing business. this can go a long way in fostering a culture of experimentation. collaborative strategies will enhance the probability of success. this is the essence of the merger between meps and myclear. maintaining the status quo is simply not an option. to set things in motion, we introduced the interoperable credit transfer framework ( ictf ) last month. along with the rpp, the ictf is also expected to be a game changer for malaysia ’ s payment landscape, particularly for mobile