. in addition to protection against technology - related crime, the it framework of banks also requires business continuity planning ( or bcp ). banks in hong kong made great strides in bcp during the preparations for the onslaught of the y2k bug. although the onslaught never came, we were soon reminded of the importance of bcp by the 9 - 11 attack, which alerted us to the need for robustness in payment, clearing and settlement systems, among other things. then the outbreak of sars last year put the bcp capability of banks in hong kong to a real test. i am pleased to say that the contingency arrangements of banks - whether of a technical or personnel nature - performed very well during that difficult time. nevertheless, the recurrence of disasters and their unpredictable nature should always be a feature of bcp and its continuous review. indeed, the probability of occurrence of these events seems to have increased, along with heightened geo - political tension and the trend of globalisation, not just of trade and markets but also of terrorism and disease. a further area that falls broadly under technology risk comes from outsourcing. continuing pressure on profitability will no doubt result in more banks seeking to outsource their operations to lower - cost centres outside of hong kong. this will in turn give rise to additional operational risks for banks, including the risks of service outage and leakage of confidential customer data. my main observation from recent experience with handling technology risk is that bank management should adopt a more proactive approach towards increasing the overall robustness of the it environment, from both the crime prevention and bcp perspectives. in dealing with these it - related incidents, we noticed the concerns sometimes expressed by bank management about the likelihood of causing unnecessary public panic if these matters were given publicity. many preferred to deal with the problems quietly. the desire to be cautious and to avoid negative publicity is quite understandable. however, we have found that, far from causing panic, our insistence on publicity has been helpful in alerting members of the public of the nature of risks that they are exposed to as bank customers and how they can protect themselves. it enhances public education on the issues at hand and promotes the exercise of a degree of care by bank customers that the situation demands, not just to protect themselves but also to help in protecting the integrity of the system. interestingly, nowadays, we sometimes receive reports of fake web - sites from members of the public even before the banks affected become aware

less familiar to most of us, there will unlikely be too many “ low hanging ” fruits. putting it bluntly, hong kong must work doubly hard to get into the game and stay ahead of the others. in this connection, the launch of the infrastructure financing facilitation office ( iffo ) by the hkma in early july is a concrete step to help hong kong capture the business opportunities that may lie ahead. this is only the beginning of a challenging process to build hong kong as the preferred platform for implementing the belt and road strategy. please rest assured that the hkma stands ready to collaborate with the industry and the practitioners on this important mission. the first panel of today ’ s summit will discuss hong kong ’ s value proposition in the belt and road strategy, including the facilitating role to be played by iffo. technological advancement and financial services 10. the second emerging trend that i highlighted earlier relates to technological advancement in recent years, which has drastically transformed the ways in which banking and finance can and should be conducted in the real world. technology has provided many new and very convenient means to conduct financial transactions, ranging from the basic payment and banking services to the more sophisticated trading and investment activities. while very few people would dispute the convenience and speed in which new technology can offer in financial services, there is an important catch that no regulators should and could overlook. the issue is whether the new technology is safe enough for the consumers and investors. 11. there are two aspects of safety : the operational dimension and the investor protection dimension. just like the physical world, the digital space is full of risks. there is no lack of hackers and fraudsters who spare no time in stealing money bis central bankers ’ speeches from the innocent people. more fundamentally, the use of new technology does not in any way alter the nature of financial transactions. for example, the marketing and selling of financial or wealth management products through the internet or mobile devices carry the same, if not higher, risks as those sold through face - to - face channels. does the public accept less or no consumer or investor protection, such as suitability test and product due diligence, simply because new digital technology is being used? i don ’ t think so, judging from the strong investor reactions after the collapse of many internet - based crowd funding platforms on the mainland and overseas. 12. while regulators like the hkma must exercise care when new technology is introduced in financial services, there are understandable concerns amongst the