a cyber risk test - bed ; and • a natural catastrophe data analytics exchange. we look forward to see more such innovation projects coming on - board. second, digital payments. bis central bankers ’ speeches changes in the payments scene in singapore have picked up pace in recent years : • our retail banks have released their own flavours of mobile wallets or mobile payment applications : – • dbs paylah!, uob mobile cash, ocbc pay anyone, stanchart dash, maybank mobile money with the launch of fast and secure transfers or “ fast ” in march 2014, we now have a ready infrastructure that allows customers of the participating banks to make domestic fund transfers to one another almost instantaneously from their computers or mobile devices. but there is a lot more we need to do on the digital payments front. first, payments at stores and restaurants. • • this is almost a uniquely singapore phenomenon – many of our stores and restaurants have multiple points - of - sale ( “ pos ” ) at their payment counters. – this not only clutters valuable real estate but also makes life difficult for customers and merchants. as more stores and restaurants introduce self - checkout facilities to improve productivity, we need a unified pos – a single terminal, preferably mobile – that will : – allow merchants to enhance efficiency by simplifying front - to - back integration ; and – enhance the shopping or dining experience of customers. second, reduce the use of cash and cheques. • it costs as much as $ 1. 50 to process each cheque. • the cost of cash is less obvious but just as real : in transportation, collection, delivery and protection. • we need to promote greater adoption of new payments technologies, including : – electronic direct debit authorisation ; and – fund transfers using mobile numbers or social networks mas and the ministry of finance have been co - leading a multi - agency effort to address these issues and guide the development of efficient digital and mobile payment systems. • the aim is to make payments swift, simple and secure. • the vision is less cash, less cheques, fewer cards. third, regulatory reporting and surveillance. as the financial system becomes increasingly complex and inter - connected, mas needs to sharpen its surveillance of the system with more timely, comprehensive and accurate information to identify and mitigate emerging risks. the vision is an interactive, technology - enabled regulatory reporting framework which will : • reduce ongoing reporting costs through the use of common data

and that inflation can be kept at a low and stable level also in periods with high domestic cost inflation. however, if developments in the real economy are to be satisfactory over time, real wage growth must be adapted to underlying productivity growth. a precondition for countering a possible downturn by means of monetary policy easing is slower growth in labour costs. monetary policy cannot prevent an increase in unemployment that is caused by a significantly higher rate of growth in labour costs in norway compared with other countries. nor can an expansionary fiscal policy counter a cost - driven rise in unemployment. growth in real wages is far higher than the underlying growth in productivity. if higher costs cannot be passed on to customers, earnings decline and the wage share increases. many businesses will have to adjust their workforces to maintain profitability. this leads to a fall in employment and increased productivity. for some companies, this may be a prerequisite for maintaining operations in norway. the alternative is to close down or relocate production to another country. while the wage share has risen sharply in manufacturing, it has remained fairly stable in other industries. import firms have wider margins, suggesting that the appreciation of the krone has not fully benefited customers. we also know that employment in some service industries has fallen. many companies in the service sector have adjusted their workforces to maintain profitability. to some extent, higher costs can also be passed on to customers through higher prices in this sector. manufacturing employment is declining. in the public sector, where employment growth has been strong the last few years, budgets will only allow a moderate increase in employment in 2003. overall, employment is projected to fall by ½ per cent in 2003 and remain unchanged in 2004. employment followed a similar course in the early 1980s. at that time, employment rose markedly as a result of continued strong growth in the labour force. labour force participation in norway is currently at a record - high level, and the demographically determined supply of labour is low. at the same time, labour force growth may be lower than implied by demographic trends for various reasons. more people may choose to study until the situation in the labour market improves. some of the unemployed may exit the labour market on retirement schemes. outflows from the labour market and low labour force growth as a result of demographic trends may limit the increase in unemployment. nevertheless, unemployment is projected to rise, especially in manufacturing. the increase through 2002 primarily reflects a rise in unemployment in the service sector. manufacturing unemployment remained stable until