the g20 in addressing cross - border payment frictions. this month's progress report shows that the biggest frictions, not surprisingly, are in lower income regions such as sub - saharan africa, and addressing these could bring transformative economic benefits. the imf and world bank are developing their programmes of technical assistance to support authorities in these countries. and finally, we need to enhance competition and innovation. currently, in most jurisdictions, only banks have access to domestic payment systems and central banks ’ rtgs systems – leading to weak competition, especially as the number of active correspondent banks worldwide fell by approximately 30 % between 2011 and 2022. even where non - bank payment service providers can have direct access to payment systems, existing legal or regulatory barriers, or the high costs of direct access, prevent them from doing so. the cpmi has set out a framework of best practices to enable countries to review the access arrangements of their key payment systems. it is perhaps this lack of access to payment rails operated by incumbents, and the need to use settlement assets provided by incumbents, that has helped to stimulate the exploration by potential challengers, like the libra project, of new rails and new settlement assets using new technologies. the libra project, of course, after much work and much modification, fell by the wayside last year. the stumbling blocks appear to have been regulatory rather than technical. however, though perhaps more muted, interest in using new technologies to develop new forms of settlement asset and new payment rails for use in the real economy – outside the world of crypto - asset markets – has not gone away. [ 15 ] the recent launch of the paypal / paxos stablecoin arrangement is one example. these new technologies purport to offer improvements in speed, cost and reliability, all of which would make them attractive for cross - border use, and exploring their potential has therefore been included in the g20 ’ s roadmap. however, these technologies also purport to offer new ‘ functionality ’ for money and payments that may make them competitive for domestic use – even in advanced jurisdictions that have developed sophisticated payment systems. technological advances have throughout history led to changes in the forms of money we use because they have made money easier and more convenient to use. the shift from physical cash to electronic payments that we have seen over the past decade has not occurred because people have lost confidence in cash. [ 16 ] rather, it has happened because it has become more convenient

had hidden or disguised the fact that they were lgbt + at work in the prior year because they were afraid of discrimination. https : / / d25d2506sfb94s. cloudfront. net / cumulus _ uploads / document / 0mefw998rr / yg - archive - sexualityscaleinternal - 240519. pdf https : / / survation. com / wp - content / uploads / 2016 / 01 / full - fawcett - tables - fm - cover - 1 - 12. pdf https : / / www. cipd. co. uk / images / diversity - and - inclusion - at - work _ 2018 - facing - up - to - the - business - case - technical - report _ tcm18 - 47062. pdf https : / / www. stonewall. org. uk / lgbt + - britain - work - report all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches this needs to be addressed head on. we must make sure that colleagues feel they can be open at work without any fear of discrimination or judgement. lgbt + colleagues are also disproportionately subject to bullying and harassment. the stonewall report found that almost one in five lgbt + colleagues have been the target of negative comments or conduct from work colleagues in the last year because they were lgbt +. also worryingly, the survey found that one in eight lesbian, gay and bi people would not feel confident reporting any homophobic or biphobic bullying to their employer. and one in five trans people would not report transphobic bullying in the workplace. employers need to adopt a zero tolerance policy for bullying and harassment and they need to encourage reporting of incidents. this needs to include ways to call out bad behaviour as well as clear processes for reporting and dealing with incidents. in addressing these issues, we can also benefit from our experiences with gender and ethnic diversity. one of the major lessons we have learned from promoting gender diversity is the need for visible support by senior leadership. that means empowered employee networks with executive sponsors. but it also needs a wide range of senior management to participate in and lead lgbt + events and initiatives, within their own organisation and externally. visible buy - in from the top is necessary for change to permeate and catalyse a cultural shift. we also need to raise awareness amongst staff and managers on lgbt + issues. this