asia, " august 2020, https : / / www. mckinsey. com / ~ / media / mckinsey / featured % 20insights / asia % 20pacific / climate % 20ri sk % 20and % 20response % 20in % 20asia % 20research % 20preview / climate - risk - and - response - inasia - future - of - asia - research - preview - v3. pdf. facilitates financial inclusion but also stimulates economic activity by increasing investment and creating demand in relevant sectors. asia accounts for more than 60 percent of all fintech - related patents filed in the 20 years to 2018, 5 and offers huge potential in the fintech sector. the recent pandemic has accelerated the move toward digitalization. it has become increasingly important that governments and the private sector collaborate to further pursue initiatives to facilitate digitalization, focusing both on developing physical infrastructures and on legal and regulatory frameworks. iii. regional and international cooperation lastly, i would like to talk about regional cooperation in asia. regional cooperation in asia is conducted through various platforms including asean and asean + 3. there are also frameworks such as apec that extend to areas outside asia. in the financial context, the chiang mai initiative multilateralisation ( cmim ), a regional financing arrangement involving japan, china, south korea, and the 10 asean member countries, has made steady progress in enhancing its effectiveness, thereby contributing to financial stability within the region. central bank fora, including emeap and seacen, have also been effective. the covid - 19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of regional as well as international cooperation in implementing appropriate measures in response to economic shocks. external shocks with far - reaching effects, such as climate change, also require coordinated action. going forward, regional and international cooperation will become even more essential. conclusion today, i have discussed the impact and the challenges posed by covid - 19 on the global economy, with a focus on asian economies. many of the challenges asian economies now face are common to the global economy. the issues are wide - ranging and not easy to tackle. asian development bank, " harnessing technology for more inclusive and sustainable finance in asia and the pacific, " 2018, https : / / www. adb. org / sites / default / files / publication / 456936 / technologyfinance - asia - pacific. pdf. however, by overcoming and learning from these challenges

##resolved, because this could eventually result in excessive nationwide regulation. this is also true for the financial industry. therefore, regarding the security of financial information, i think it is extremely important for financial institutions to continually study cutting - edge technologies and provide tools and infrastructure to ensure security in a preemptive manner, before the public demands it of them. in this case, it may be sensible for the costs associated with provision of a high level of infrastructure to be allocated and borne appropriately between the financial institutions and end - users. at the same time, individuals need to have a clear idea of how to safeguard their personal information through their own efforts. we take various measures to prevent thieves from breaking into our home, but our awareness of how to protect ourselves against financial crime is relatively weak in comparison. needless to say, in all transactions, we should ensure the safety of transactions by ourselves. of course, on the part of financial institutions, it is necessary to encourage individual customers to adequately understand the measures that are indispensable for self - protection. conclusion i have mentioned important points indispensable to the sound development of retail financial services in japan. to reiterate, if financial institutions can provide various financial services that meet the needs of households, and through such actions, effectively utilize the funds of households to support corporate activity, it can contribute not only to increasing households'wealth, but also to promoting the economic growth of japan. at the same time, through the reallocation of risks, this will contribute to enhancing the robustness of the financial system in japan to counter external shocks. considering that the japanese financial system is regaining its stability, we at the bank of japan has taken a number of steps with the intention of contributing to developing and spreading advanced financial technologies through our functions of on - site examinations and off - site monitoring to encourage financial institutions'efforts to provide more advanced financial services. to this end, the bank established the center for advanced financial technology in july 2005 within the financial systems and bank examination department. the department was created by integrating the former financial systems department and the former bank examination and surveillance department. in addition, from the perspectives of enhancing the functions of financial markets and settlement infrastructure, we are determined to make greater efforts together with market participants to enable market discipline to fully perform its function. in this respect, along with the organizational changes in july that i have mentioned, we established the payment and settlement systems department by making independent a part of the function performed by the