##que payment, which means greater privacy protection. for those payees who have more than one account, he can also enjoy the flexibility of deciding which account to deposit an e - cheque into. vi. corporates and institutions which issue a huge volume of paper cheques can save substantial sums on printing, processing and mailing those cheques. in hong kong, listed companies process over 2 million physical cheques each year for dividend payments. both paper consumption and mailing costs can be reduced substantially each year if shareholders agree switchinig to e - cheques to receive these payments. looking forward 4. the e - cheque is only at the beginning of its development. the hkma will continue to explore ways of expanding its application in two areas, namely : bis central bankers ’ speeches i. cross - border transactions – we will explore with the guangzhou and shenzhen branches of the people ’ s bank of china, and the monetary authority of macao with a view to promoting the use and clearing of cross - border e - cheques. ii. development of e - commerce – we will explore with the banking industry the use of echeques in supporting e - commerce portals. while offering an additional option of payment for online shoppers, e - cheques can also increase the efficiency of ecommerce operations. acknowledgments 5. the launch of the e - cheque reflects the continuous effort of banks in hong kong to provide a wide range of payment services. it also signifies the hkma ’ s commitment in promoting the efficiency and modernisation of hong kong's financial infrastructure. besides, the smooth development and launch of the e - cheque has benefited immensely from the great support of relevant government departments. i. firstly, amendments to the electronic transactions ordinance were finalised by the office of the government chief information officer in early 2015, giving electronic cheques the same legal status as physical cheques. the pay e - cheque portal was also launched on 7 december, which allows the public to make payments of government bills and fees with e - cheques. ii. the inland revenue department became the first government department to participate in the pay e - cheque portal, providing a convenient and easy option for paying tax demand notes, business registration fees, and stamp duties as well as purchasing tax reserve certificates. iii. lastly, the treasury has also actively helped promote the acceptance by other government departments of e - cheques in paying general demand notes. 6. i would like

as a result of overinvestment, and the lack of financial market development are generally cited as the causes of the middle income trap. one would think that the reversal of these trends could help economies evade the trap, but this of course is easier said than done. crucial role of financial market development while issues such as population ageing are probably best left to other forums, those of us here today are well - suited to think about how financial market developments can help asian economies overcome the two longer - term challenges. informed by hong kong ’ s blueprint as an international financial centre, let me share a few thoughts on this issue. first, both longer term challenges – navigating china ’ s economic transition, and evading the middle income trap – require asia ’ s financial institutions to be tech - forward. around the world, we have seen fintech play a key role, with innovations ranging from the digitalisation of traditional banking activities, to ones aimed at promoting financial inclusion. at the hkma, we have been proactive in using technologies to make financial services more accessible, especially for consumers and smes. over the past year, we have launched open api, a framework that allows third party providers to aggregate information about the products and services offered by different banks for the benefit of end - users. licences have now been granted to three virtual banks, with potentially more on the way, which will enhance the spectrum of products and services available to retail customers and smes. another application launched was faster payment systems or fps, a 24 / 7 retail payment platform that offers cross - bank, cross - ewallet transfers in hong kong dollar or rmb. all that ’ s needed is the recipient ’ s phone number or email address. we have also introduced applications that help corporations : the etradeconnect platform, for example, uses dlt - based technology to bring the paperwork - heavy trade financing business into the digital era. other asian economies have also been actively engaged in fintech solutions that help make access to financial services easier for their constituents. without a doubt, a lot more work still needs to be done on fintech, especially when compared with other areas such as e - commerce and social networking where the impact of technology has been and continues to be immense. second, asian economies need to continue to promote long - term investments and stable capital markets. research has firmly established that well - functioning financial systems are crucial to economic development, and that capital mobility in particular is