##mrw ’ s mobile app features a game designed to encourage their customers to save more. in hong kong, the regulator has given out licenses to 8 virtual banks to acquire and deliver banking services through the internet. 6 / 10 bis central bankers'speeches the take - up numbers are interesting ; they indicate the competition emerging in the space of digital banking. out of the 8 virtual banks, 5 are non - banks but 3 are backed by banks. but the second and potentially more powerful way in which technology is helping to drive down the cost of financial intermediation is through partnerships between financial institutions and fintech firms. soc - gen is working with tagpay to provide mobile banking in africa through a cloud - based platform that is compatible with any mobile phone. axa is working with microensure to offer simple and affordable insurance products to customers across asia and africa. by helping to reduce customer acquisition costs, these collaborations have helped to serve a larger social purpose – enhancing financial inclusion and expanding opportunity. but there is a lot more we need to do. there are about 1. 7 billion adults globally who are unbanked. in the ten asean countries of southeast asia, half the adult population is unbanked. this is a shame. the asean countries have a burgeoning middle class and increasingly modern infrastructure, yet so many do not have access to a bank account, secure and affordable payments, or insurance protection. banks and insurers face high costs in reaching out to customers in remote areas. we need to take collaboration between financial institutions and fintech firms to a much broader level – through platforms for innovation and inclusion. this is why the mas, the asean bankers association, and the world bank ’ s international finance corporation have teamed up to establish the asean financial innovation network, or afin in short. afin aims to bring banks and fintech firms from across the world to develop innovative solutions to penetrate hard - to - reach markets in a cost efficient way. last year, afin launched the api exchange – the world ’ s first cross - border, open architecture platform to enhance financial inclusion. the api exchange is a cloud - based platform that does two things : it is a marketplace, enabling financial institutions to discover and connect with fintech partners through apis on a globally curated platform. it also provides a sandbox environment for financial institutions and fintech firms to design and test cross - border solutions. i have spoken so far of how the two musketeers –

the italian g20 presidency and the cross - border payments agenda piero cipollone deputy governor of the bank of italy pushing the frontiers of payments : toward faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross - border payments bis - committee on payments and market infrastructures conference 19 march 2021 i would like to thank the committee on payments and market infrastructures ( cpmi ) for inviting me to join this conference on ‘ pushing the frontiers of payments ’. the italian presidency of the g20 greatly values the cpmi ’ s commitment to moving the g20 roadmap forward on cross - border payments. the breadth of topics and speakers at this conference proves that progress in international payments architecture can only come from the wide - ranging and collective endeavour of private sector participants, public authorities and academics. the italian g20 presidency calls on world leaders to safeguard the ‘ three ps ’ - people, planet and prosperity. ‘ people ’ represents the view that we have to tackle inequalities and promote equal opportunities, because no one should be left behind. ‘ planet ’ underlines the idea that it is no longer possible to ignore the risks our planet is facing, and that we have to make an effort to achieve a safe balance between people and nature. ‘ prosperity ’ means pursuing economic well - being and a better quality of life, which implies making new technologies and the digital transformation an opportunity for all. the gist of what i am going to say is that enhancing cross - border payments is a concrete and major step towards achieving robust, sustainable and equitable growth. and by doing that, we will considerably contribute to each of the ‘ three ps ’. let me briefly explain this in some detail. first : in this era of fintech and high frequency trading, we can say that cross - border payments have lagged behind the rest of the global financial system. as the fsb ’ s and cpmi ’ s analyses have documented, fund transfers across different jurisdictions can still be difficult to arrange and remain slow, costly, opaque and less secure. these inefficiencies are ultimately borne, above all, by individuals and small and medium - sized enterprises ( smes ). for them, transaction fees ( as a percentage of the payment being made ) are normally higher than those borne by larger corporations, especially for smaller payments, and execution times are slower. the lack of transparency on costs, speed and security, and the complexity of the legal aspects ( such as compliance checks or dispute resolution ) only add