by the government. mas and the government technology agency of singapore have done a pilot with several 5 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches banks to enable customers to open a bank account online using myinfo. the pilot saw application timings shortened by as much as 80 %. we are now taking the next step. mas is working closely with local and foreign banks to explore a banking kyc shared - services utility that will streamline end - to - end kyc. this means centralising processes such as : leveraging on myinfo for customer identification and verification ; collecting and validating kyc documents ; and screening against sanctions and blacklists. the banking kyc utility is potentially a transformative project. it will harmonise and enhance kyc checks across the industry. it will improve the quality of risk management while reducing cost and time taken. if all goes well, we hope to see the utility in place next year. making trade finance safer and more efficient : global trade connectivity network another area that could do with transformation is trade finance. today, it is largely paper - based. this is not only inefficient, but increases risks such as fraud and duplicate invoicing. blockchain technology offers good promise to make trade finance safer and more efficient. last year, dbs bank and standard chartered bank completed a proof - of - concept that demonstrated how blockchain technology could enable banks to detect if an invoice had already been financed. shortly after, hsbc and bank of america did a proof - of - concept that showed how trade finance processes could be streamlined using blockchains and smart contracts. building on these, mas and the hong kong monetary authority will jointly develop the global trade connectivity network, a cross - border platform for trade finance using distributed ledger technology. gtcn will be an open architecture platform that enables the seamless transfer of digital documents and data across borders, starting with the singapore - hong kong trade corridor. if all goes well, we expect the gtcn to go live in early 2019. strengthening supervision and reducing compliance cost : suptech it is not only the financial industry that needs fintech, but regulators as well. mas has embarked on its own fintech journey to make our supervision more effective and the compliance burden we impose less painful. we call it supervisory technology, or suptech for short. let me give an example : detecting trade syndicates in the stock market. one of the most difficult things to detect in

nation whose economy is expected to contract in 2023. our experts see this as the outcome of two developments in particular : the at times very high energy prices caused by the russian war against ukraine and a currently weak global economy. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches the bout of weakness in the german economy is not, then, primarily structural, as is being suggested by the debate on potential deindustrialisation. this, in turn, is consistent with most forecasts for germany for 2024, which are already predicting a recovery in economic activity. therefore, i cannot agree with the " sick man " diagnosis. 2 challenges to and opportunities for the german economy however, germany and its firms face major challenges – of that, there is no doubt. we discussed this in an article in the september issue of the bundesbank's monthly report. [ 1 ] i would like to briefly address two of the key challenges. for one thing, there is the decarbonisation of the economy. climate change is advancing rapidly and affecting all of humanity. for another, the high electricity and gas prices are continuing to show us in no uncertain terms how heavily we still rely on fossil fuels. transitioning away from oil, gas and coal and expanding renewable energy will therefore not only be good for the climate, but will also make us more independent and may potentially lead to lower electricity prices again in germany over the long term. however, another thing is clear as well : the era of at times very low energy costs is over for now. that's something that all consumers of electricity – be they big or small – will have to get used to. some parts of industry, claiming that they are at an acute competitive disadvantage to their foreign rivals, are calling for a rapid artificial reduction in the price of electricity for some firms. in my view, however, this will only delay the inevitable structural change. transitioning towards net zero means comprehensively restructuring our economy : prominent examples include energy generation, networks, new storage capabilities, heating technology and transport. all of these will require extensive investment : in new equipment, but also in research and development, in order to use energy efficiently. policymakers can play a supportive role in this regard : reliable and consistent climate policymaking will create planning certainty on the path to carbon neutrality by 2045. at the same time, government approval processes and judicial review procedures need to be sped up. at the european level, germany should campaign for further progress to be made