in. finally, i would like to highlight a few payments matters. australia ’ s new fast payments system is continuing to grow, with most of the major banks now close to offering the agreed initial functionality. the rba – as banker to the australian government – has been using this new system recently to get money immediately into the bank accounts of people affected by the bush fires. more generally, most people in australia are now able to move money between bank accounts in a matter of seconds. the payments system board is hoping to see banks, fintechs and others use this new infrastructure to develop innovative payment solutions that help individuals and small businesses. another priority for the payments system board over the year ahead is to complete its periodic review of payments regulation in australia. we are currently reviewing the initial submissions to this review and it is clear that the world of payments is moving quickly, partly driven by new technologies. one of the issues that the council of financial regulators has already raised with government is the regulatory arrangements for so - called stored value facilities, which could include digital payment ‘ coins ’. the council is seeking some changes to current regulatory arrangements that would provide stronger protections for consumers as well as creating a simpler regulatory system that encourages innovation. another issue on which the council of financial regulators will provide advice to government this year is the resolution arrangements that apply to australia ’ s systematically important financial infrastructures, including central counterparties and securities settlement facilities. we need to make sure that our arrangements for dealing with problems in these critical parts of australia ’ s financial infrastructure are strong and that they meet international standards. this will likely require some changes in current legislation. thank you. my colleagues and i are here to answer your questions. 1 see ‘ lenders ’ interest rates ’, available at : www. rba. gov. au / statistics / interest - rates /. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

have exports in some other categories ( graph 3 ). many of these are areas where australia does have a comparative advantage and where value added is high. it is by focusing on these comparative advantages that we can best build a strong and successful manufacturing sector, while at the same time living with a high exchange rate. bis central bankers ’ speeches graph 3 i would now like to turn to the second broad factor that has helped maintain domestic balance during the once - in - a - century investment boom. and that is the increase in household saving. since the mid 2000s, the household sector net saving ratio has risen from around zero to around 10 per cent ( graph 4 ). in today ’ s money this represents about an additional $ 90 billion that is saved, not spent, by households each year. graph 4 now i know that this increase in household savings has not been universally welcomed by the retail sector. it has caused difficulties for some businesses, including those that based their business models on a continuation of the earlier trends. but consider how the economy might have looked over the past few years had households spent an extra $ 90 billion each bis central bankers ’ speeches year. it is likely that there would have been significant overheating. the exchange rate would have been higher. there would have been more borrowing from the rest of the world. and both inflation and interest rates would have been higher. i suggest that these are not developments that would have been warmly welcomed by most in the community. so, somewhat ironically, two of the factors that have created difficult challenges for many businesses over recent years – the high exchange rate and increased household savings – are the very same factors that have been critical to australia ’ s good macroeconomic performance. importantly, these factors have helped australia to digest a huge investment boom without generating substantial imbalances in the economy. at the same time, these factors have prompted significant structural change which, while difficult, is critical to achieving higher overall productivity and higher living standards. there is clearly a lot of change going on in the australian economy at the moment. how you view this change depends critically upon where you stand. however, no matter what one ’ s perspective, we should not lose sight of the fact that maintaining overall macro balance through this period of change has been a significant achievement. and it is an achievement that has benefited the entire community. the contribution of monetary policy so far i have discussed structural factors, but monetary policy has also played some role in helping maintain this overall internal balance. in