of legal, technical and operational arrangements for payments. these include exploring the adoption of international standards such as the iso 20022 messaging standard. these standards would enhance compatibility across different infrastructures and pave the way towards greater cross - border interoperability. to take this further and fully realise the benefits, cross - border coordination will be key to promote uniformity in how the standards are interpreted and operationalised. promoting competition the fourth perspective for the regulatory agenda relates to the need to promote efficiency and innovation through greater competition. given the importance of scale and network effects in delivering payment services, it is no surprise that the payments industry tends towards an oligopolistic structure. these market dynamics are amplified in the digital payments market. ‘ winner - takes - all ’ dynamics are synonymous with digital platforms, which often aim to build as large of a network as possible. after all, this facilitates a virtuous cycle of more data, leading to better and cheaper services, which in turn leads to more customers – so on and so forth. to this end, regulators must ensure that these market dynamics do not result in perverse outcomes for the payments ecosystem as a whole. such perverse outcomes could include the abuse of a dominant market position to erect undue barriers to entry, or to impose exorbitant prices on end - users. encouragingly, regulatory authorities are increasingly playing an active role in mitigating such risks. of significance are efforts to promote open access regimes to key payment infrastructures, regardless of whether the payment service provider is an incumbent bank or a non - bank player. in hong kong, the faster payments system ( fps ) was launched in september 2018 with a total of 21 banks and 10 non - bank e - money issuers participating in the scheme. the uk went even further in april 2018, with the bank of england allowing a non - bank to access both clearing and settlement facilities in the rtgs system. enhanced transparency expectations can also play an important role in ensuring that infrastructure suppliers and payment service providers continue to maintain high service levels and deliver services that create value for endusers. slowly but surely, initiatives like these are rewriting the rules of the game in the payments industry towards heightened competition through lower barriers to entry. this is further reinforced by a gradual move towards greater sharing of customer data, such as through the eu ’ s payment services directive ( psd2 ), the uk and australia ’ s respective open banking initiatives. malaysia too welcomes greater openness in

##f already in the late 1940's and early 1950's. this was a necessary prerequisite for participating in the western multilateral trade regime and having a convertible currency – which was achieved in 1959. in order to promote its trade and commercial interests further, finland participated also in the west european trade integration, joining the european free trade association ( efta ) as an associate member in 1961, and concluded a free trade agreement with the eec in 1973. the collapse of the soviet union made it finally possible for finland to join the western european family. in 1990 it became apparent, that sweden and austria – which were also neutral efta members – were aiming for full membership in the ec. this prompted finland to make up its mind about applying as well. [ in order to prepare for the ec membership, the finnish government announced in the autumn of 1990 that military articles in the friendship, co - operation and mutual assistance treaty of 1947 between finland and the soviet union had expired as a consequence of the re - unification of germany. in march 1992 finland's application of the ec membership was submitted to the commission. accession negotiations were concluded in 1994. after a referendum, in which a clear majority, 57 per cent of the voters, voted for the membership, finland became a member of the european union as from the beginning of 1995, simultaneously with sweden and austria. after the extremely traumatizing experience of financial instability in the beginning of the 1990 ’ s, with its currency and banking crisis, the finns put great value on monetary stability. it was therefore logical that finland joined the euro area in 1999, in the first group of countries to do so. membership in the euro area has naturally facilitated the further internationalization of the economy and opened deeper financial markets for the benefit of finnish firms and institutional investors. it has also provided a degree of monetary stability unprecedented in the history of the country, certainly important for sound investment decisions and improvement of productivity. the eastern dimension as i have already pointed out, finland geographic position, next to russia, has influenced its economic and political history in many ways. for the finnish economy, russia has been both a challenge and an opportunity. already in the late 19th and early 20th century, easy access to russian markets accelerated economic growth in finland. because of geographical proximity, the finnish economy has been influenced by the ups and down of that huge market ever since. after the russian revolution, and finnish independence, trade all but stopped, but after the second world