lower than twelve months earlier. payment providers have facilitated these moves. the transaction limit below which a pin is not required for a contactless card payment was ( temporarily ) raised from $ 100 to $ 200 to further reduce the need to touch terminals. banks promoted mobile payments, which, because of biometric identification, often do not require pins even for large purchases. and banks also obtained dispensation to mail out debit cards to a large number of their customers that did not already have them. all of these changes are likely to result in permanent shifts in behaviour as some people maintain the new ways of doing things. people who have recently obtained a debit card for the first time now have the ability to use a card at the point of sale as well as make online purchases. the increased use of online shopping, either through necessity or preference during the ‘ stay at home'period, seems likely to be a permanent shift. in response, many retailers have increased their online offerings and may even find that they can reduce their physical presence. there have been some calls for the ‘ no pin ’ limit to be maintained at the current higher level, which would make point - of - sale card payments even easier. and mobile payments have probably received a permanent leg - up. there are a number of policy implications we have been thinking about the policy implications of the changing payments system for some time. many of the issues were raised in our consultation document on the review of retail payments regulation ( the review ). [ 1 ] i am going to focus on five issues here : the cost of electronic payments ; technological lock - out ; resilience of electronic payments ; access to cash ; and the future of cheques. costs to merchants of electronic payments must be kept as low as possible the cost of payments for merchants is an issue that the bank has been focused on since it was given responsibility for efficiency and competition in the payments system in 1998. from the early days of its work on interchange fees, the bank has been concerned with the way in which competition between payment systems works. in particular, since merchants are reluctant to refuse any payment method that consumers present, for fear of losing a sale, they typically take as many as possible. if a sufficient number of their competitors take a payment method, it is very difficult for a merchant to refuse that payment mechanism. the result of this is that they have limited ability to resist increases in the cost of taking payments. and as costs of payments rise, they ultimately find

industry, for example, our regional low cost carriers have significantly increased interconnectedness among asean countries. the economic spillovers from this increased connectivity cannot be ignored. by opening up access to lombok, for example, these low cost carriers have contributed to a surge in tourists, marking the fastest growth of tourist arrivals in indonesia. this has incentivised the indonesian government to provide more infrastructure development, including solar power plants, water treatment facilities and roads. this is only one of the many other success stories from our regional home - grown champions. it is my hope that we keep nurturing more, and that their footprints in asean bring even greater benefits to our people. ( b ) role of financial integration 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches the private sector ’ s role in enhancing shared prosperity in asean must be facilitated by an enabling environment for efficient cross - border business transactions. this has been achieved through greater financial integration in asean including deeper banking integration ; smoother capital mobility ; and efficient payment and settlement systems. asean central banks have made significant strides towards this end, but by no means will we coast on by. we will continue to champion financial integration that benefits all. an asian development bank study in 2013 has shown that banking integration mobilises savings towards more productive investment, thereby increasing productivity and accelerating growth. this study also showed that smoother capital mobility will facilitate more competitive and productive cross - border lending and borrowing, while promoting financial sector and capital market development. lastly, an efficient cross - border payment and settlement systems promotes cost - effective transactions by reducing the cost of doing business. hurdles faced by asean like it or not, the path to achieving the strategic objectives of the asean economic community ( aec ) 2025 will be filled with hurdles. the pace of convergence within asean would be shaped by members ’ different levels of development. it is harder for countries with resource constraints to shoulder the high costs involved in undertaking structural and institutional changes, which are required for effective integration. in overcoming such hurdles, i stand proud in acknowledging that asean adopts a gradual and phased - in approach that ensures a win - win situation for all. to illustrate this, let me share with you an anecdote from asean ’ s financial integration experience under the aec. the core principles of our framework are inclusiveness and readiness. for example, under the asean banking integration framework, two or more asean countries can liberalise their banking sectors if they are mutually ready. but what if a member is not ready