to complete the customer due diligence process. yet, nine in ten foreign workers have smartphones and use them to access the internet. with technology, we can tap into these alternative access channels to enable e - remittances. two other important development are also coming together to encourage the use of electronic remittances. the first is the initiative by the government to require employers of foreign workers to pay their salaries into bank accounts. this removes the need to deliver cash to remittance service providers. the second is the development of an interactive mobile application by the msb industry that allows users to identify licensed msb providers, compare services and communicate directly with msb companies. the mobile app serves as a powerful tool to further promote transparency and competition in the money services business industry, by providing consumers with the information and facilities that will help them make smarter remittance choices. kota kinabalu will be an important testbed for these initiatives, serving as a model for envisioning an end - to - end digital remittance landscape in malaysia. given sabah ’ s aspirations to develop a digital ecosystem, we could not have picked a better city or time to launch our next greenback journey. as we look forward to the journey ahead, i cannot help but recall how far the msb industry has come. in 2017, the msb industry facilitated rm20 billion in worker remittances and a further rm400 million in business remittances. this represents a 43 % and 300 % increase respectively over values transacted in 2013 when significant reforms were introduced to strengthen standards and shore up trust and confidence in the industry. today, an industry represented by progressive and credible principal msb companies and a wide network of agents has not only improved access to services, but also raised the quality of service. with better knowledge, tools and resources, the industry has also worked hard to strengthen safeguards against its use for criminal and other illicit activities. the industry is already leading the way in the financial sector by certifying all compliance officers to equip them to be more effective in implementing aml / cft measures. this is important because our collective efforts here today to improve overall welfare by providing more people and businesses with efficient access to remittance services will be severely set back if trust and confidence in the industry are eroded. when this happens, rules often have to be rewritten, the costs of compliance will increase, and the public is saddled with reduced 2

of europe ”, however, it was self - evident that such incremental measures would gradually move europe deeper into federalism. indeed, this clear sense of direction was, in their way, a key motor to keep the integration process moving forward. since then, the european integration process has tended to move in waves. there have been times when it has stalled, such as the during the “ empty chair crisis ” in the 1960s. and there have been times when it has unexpectedly sped ahead, such as with the launch of the single market act in the 1980s, and the commitment to economic and monetary union ( emu ) in the 1990s. but today, there is some confusion as to where we stand. in some ways, the degree of ambition to achieve a full political federation seems to have become more limited, which has led some to wonder whether the integration process will lose its forward momentum. this reflects in part the failure of the constitution for europe in 2005. the unsuccessful referendums in france and the netherlands can be interpreted in different ways, but they clearly suggested that the people of the european union were not ready to embark on 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches the road towards full political federalism – or at least not at that point in time. it is also fair to say that the appetite for such federalism today is not much different from in 2005. in recent years there have been growing doubts about the european project. at the same time, polls consistently show that european citizens support federal decisionmaking in a wide range of areas, ranging from energy to migration to the fight against terrorism. this reflects the fact that the benefits of federalism are much broader than its economic, fiscal and monetary dimensions. indeed, since the eu was originally devised as a peace - keeping device, it is not surprising that one of the early initiatives for european integration was a motion to establish a european defence community, although this failed in 1954. while a full defence union is probably still unrealistic, there are increasing signs that further integration in this area could happen in the near future. the commission reflection paper published on 7 june of this year lays out proposals for establishing a european defence fund, which could form the nucleus of a future defence union. last week, the european council welcomed the significant progress made by member states in preparing a permanent structured cooperation ( pesco ) in the field of defence, and the work done on the commission ’ s proposal for a european defence industrial development programme ( edidp ).