regulations. finally, the success of exchange linkages is highly dependent on investors ’ interest in cross - border trades via the linkages. to achieve this, the linkages must provide a cost efficient solution for investors ’ trading needs. there is also a need to cultivate asian investors ’ interest in cross - border investments. asian investors ’ investment portfolios traditionally reflect a strong home bias. to help profile non - domestic securities and enhance investors ’ trading interest in these securities, regional exchanges could explore the possibility of cross - trading or cross - listing of securities, particularly in neighbouring exchanges where information barriers are low. more efforts should be taken to facilitate local and foreign investors ’ participation in our markets. however, investors ’ interest in cross - border trades is also in part, driven by their level of confidence in how markets are characterised by sensible regulation and high standards of corporate governance. enhancing corporate governance and regulation there has been much focus on the corporate governance and regulation of exchanges in many jurisdictions. as institutions of system - wide or systemic importance, the issues relating to the corporate governance of exchanges are for the most part similar to the issues for banks and insurance companies. weak corporate governance of such institutions can undermine public confidence in the financial system. however, unlike other financial institutions, exchanges perform varying degrees of supervisory and regulatory functions over their members and listed companies. potential conflicts of interests exist between these regulatory functions and the exchanges ’ commercial functions. these conflicts may be accentuated for demutualised and listed exchanges. while profits are not irrelevant to other exchanges, they are the primary motive for shareholders of listed exchanges. regulators worldwide have been grappling with these issues as more exchanges demutualise and list. mas believes that credibility in governance and regulation is a vital commercial asset for exchanges. investors are more likely to invest and trade on an exchange if they are confident that they can do so without being defrauded or without other investors having an unfair advantage. exchanges that operate fair, efficient and transparent markets, where rules are enforced in an impartial way, will have a competitive advantage. mas and sgx share a strong commitment to maintaining high standards of corporate governance. we take a collaborative approach in working together to continually keep abreast of best practices. no single model has gained universal acceptance, and no model is good for all time. we will continue to work closely together to further enhance the governance and regulatory arrangements relating to sgx where appropriate. conclusion east asian economies have seen robust growth in 2003.

##fo business. it is a national platform allowing firms, including msmes, one - stop access to entity - level data residing across various government agencies. firms can conveniently permit sharing of these datasets with third party services via open apis. third, an electronic payment rail that enables interoperability across payment solutions and seamless fund transfers. in singapore, the paynow infrastructure allows individuals and businesses to move money to one another's bank accounts on their mobile phones in real - time, 24 / 7. msmes have benefitted from this by being able to send and receive payments in a timely, affordable and secure manner using mobile numbers, company registration numbers, national id, or qr codes. but to maximise opportunities for msmes, digital infrastructure within one's borders is not enough. we need cross - border digital connectivity and digital public goods. this is where mas'collaboration with undp comes in. by working with the undp, we are helping not just msmes in singapore but connecting and supporting msmes worldwide. mas'collaboration with undp spans across three key themes. first, building digital trust for msmes second, expanding msmes'access to financial, trade, and green resources third, enhancing training for msmes. let me start with building digital trust for msmes. in a global, digital economy, msmes must be able to engender trust in larger businesses that they are typically suppliers to and financial institutions whose services they require. the traditional model whereby trust is established in msmes through the provision of collateral is inefficient, costly, and clearly inadequate. if the unique identity and credentials of an msme can be verified, then trust can be established, enabling more economically efficient relationships. we must first try to solve for how msmes can be recognised by any financial institution worldwide. we can do this by leveraging on unique legal entity identifiers or lei for each msme. the leis are issued under the auspices of the global legal entity identifier foundation or gleif. 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches gleif is an international organisation set up by the g20 financial stability board, to issue leis as a lynchpin for financial transactions to be accurately attributed to verified entities. mas, undp, and gleif are exploring the issuance of msme leis at scale at affordable rates under a new structure. this would be a major step forward as leis are