driver of financial sector policy to fulfill the three key imperatives of productivity, immunity, and inclusivity. on productivity front, fintech can enhance efficiency in financial services. rise of new electronic payment ecosystem can enable more efficient transfer of funds and significantly lower transaction costs for customers. adoption of fintech platforms will allow banks to scale down on the high cost brick - and - mortar delivery model and shift to less costly and more efficient digital services. lending process can be made much more efficient through usage of transactional data from e - commerce and payment platforms, and banks ’ business model could change from collateral - based lending to information - based lending. meanwhile, blockchain has advanced technology behind many aspects of the financial services, especially back - office operations and fund transfers. all of these help lower cost of financial transactions and improve ease of doing business for banks and customers, thereby improving productivity of the economy as a whole. on immunity front, prudent application of fintech can help banks and businesses improve their risk management. with the vast amount of data available such as those from new payment ecosystem and digital transactions, banks can better analyze business conditions and make more accurate forecast of customers ’ credit demand and credit risks, resulting in improved risk management model. additionally, emergence of new data will unlock new hedging products, especially in the insurance industry. furthermore, advancements in technologies like artificial intelligence, biometrics, and blockchains can help safeguard financial information, improve identity verification, and reduce the number and magnitude of financial frauds. these developments will contribute to safer environment for both service providers and customers. 4 - 7 on inclusivity front, expanding fintech universe and advent of new and diverse platforms can improve financial access of customers, especially those who have been underserved by the current financial system. as different individuals have different levels of affordability and financial requirements, the ever - expanding fintech universe can offer wideranging choices and solutions needed to fulfill their different needs. digitization of financial services and emergence of new platforms can improve financial services through online access and smartphone applications, which benefit customers both in cities and in remote areas. fintech applications will also help with cross - border transactions for small businesses and enable fast and cheap remittance transfers for immigrant workers, thus creating opportunities and improving the quality of life of many whom might have been underserved. meanwhile, information - based lending can help small businesses without adequate collateral gain access to funding at a fair price. all

we have seen, even here in the caribbean that there is such a thing as “ too big to fail ”, or rather, “ too big to be allowed to fail ”. there is currently a debate as to whether large financial entities should have a progressive scale of capital requirements, which require bigger entities to hold more capital pro - rata. the other concern being debated is whether financial entities should be allowed to become too large. transparency, accountability and trust another important factor observed during the meltdown was that the more sophisticated securitization became, the more opaque the instrument, so that is was often not possible to tell what the risks of the instruments were and who was bearing that risk. so much so that entities then bought back some part of the securities they had distributed without realizing it. a way needs to be found to track the risks in these securitized instruments. processes and practices the micro prudential approach to supervision has emphasized protection of the small depositor and reducing the likelihood of failure of an individual institution. in the past, this might have been sufficient to bring comfort to many consumers. however, by re - focusing on the financial system as a whole, we reduce the risk of concurrent failures of systemically important institutions. such a change is necessary to enable us to withstand and rally against future shocks and developing a framework for macro - prudential regulation will be an important step. this is another important area of focus on the post meltdown period to which attention must be paid. emphasis on the risk behavior of both bank and non - bank financial institutions, and the counter - cyclical approach of building buffers in good times is another needed change. indeed, the pro - cyclicality of the system has been frequently criticized. another area of interest is the scope of regulation. given the propensity of risk to migrate from regulated to less regulated sectors, requires that corrective approaches be equally considered in both the bank and non - bank sectors. this wider regulatory coverage already exists in barbados in respect of non - banks but steps are in train to strengthen oversight of other entities which will fall under the new financial services commission. on a global scale, the form which increased regulation will take is still being developed. i am sure that we will get some early indications from our speakers on how this is likely to develop. what the global crisis has taught us is that there is need to take the time out from managing complex technical issues to ensure that there are crisis management plans that can be