first, the central bank has finalized and is in the midst of implementing the national payment systems strategy. it aims to create a secure, future - proof payments ecosystem that best supports the uae digital economy and cashless society objectives. to this end, the cbuae will be working with multiple authorities, global and domestic payment providers and fintech firms to create consumer - centric, cost - effective and safe e - payment solutions. second, the central bank has also issued regulations for stored valued facilities offering specific digital payment services. this set outs clear requirements to facilitate the advent of convenient and accessible digital payment services to all consumers, in line with the cbuae financial inclusion agenda. third, the central bank is also in the midst of finalizing its crowdfunding regulation. it seeks to provide regulatory clarity for the operations of crowdfunding platforms. more importantly, it aims to strengthen necessary safeguards to ensure adequate consumer protection and robust disclosure requirements when such platforms serve the uae market in a larger scale. fourth, the central bank in collaboration with saudi arabia monetary authority ( sama ) is undertaking a unique, joint project – leveraging on blockchain and cryptography - to issue a joint digital currency accepted in cross border transactions between two countries. a distributed ledger proof of concept ( poc ) to facilitate such cross border settlements is already in put into motion. the poc ’ s design involve using digital currency backed by fiat currencies of the two nations. this is probably the first time ever we witness such cooperation in this policy front. we hope that the potential success of this initiative will foster similar collaboration in the gcc region and globally. in the wider uae context, we have also seen the rapid growth of fintech - related activities in both onshore and in the two offshore financial centers. these include the regulatory sandboxes managed by financial free zones which have enabled for the experimentation of innovative financial services technologies within predefined boundaries. 2 | page as we navigate through the evolving ecosystem, we believe that constant, close engagement with regulated businesses, fintech firms, regulators and other stakeholders is crucial. clearly, ongoing dialogue and collaboration are the best way to ensure industry players are aware and able to navigate the applicable rules. in addition, we must also ensure that supervisors are well - equipped to identify, assess and tackle potential risks associated with fintech. i cannot stress enough, the criticality of domestic and international cooperation in this area. we can, and should, work to

or vice - versa. also, the third difficulty is getting banks to work together and to cooperate to achieve a certain objective. we have certainly faced these issues in implementing the image cheque clearing system. but we believe that implementing this system is essential for improving customer services at banks, we also believe that the problems banks talk about are mostly theoretical and imaginary. c ) mobile phone payment system for banks our objective with this system is to make it easier for banks to add another element to improve service to their personal customers. the system is expected to become operational in the early part of 2007. the system will handle the following payments : - person - to - person - bill payments - payments for purchases at point of sale - internet purchases and many more. we have already negotiated an agreement with etisalat, to provide this service through their mobile phone network. ladies & gentlemen, before i conclude i must thank the bank of new york for hosting us at this magnificent resort and mr. sulaiman al mazroui for all the excellent arrangements and for inviting me. thank you.