without addressing the cyber - threats that we also face. it was therefore prudent for the sarb to, this time, merge the two conferences into one. this innovation and cybersecurity conference will focus on the following five themes : emerging innovations leveraging new technologies innovation and the regulator – challenges and opportunities cybersecurity trends the south african journey – getting to harmonisation and action i will now make some brief introductory remarks before handing over to the governor of the sarb, mr lesetja kganyago, to deliver the opening address on ‘ disruptive innovation and cybersecurity : the south african reserve bank ’ s perspective and response ’. page 3 of 5 innovation it is becoming evident that the ever - accelerating pace of emerging technological innovation, notwithstanding all its advantages, is disruptive to the financial services being offered by financial institutions, and it also poses some challenges for regulators. innovation introduces new players to the financial services industry and enables incumbent industry participants to expand the scope of their financial offerings. innovation generally leads to the expansion of markets and greater efficiencies, and could potentially result in lower costs for the end user of financial products and / or services. regulators taking positions to enable innovation and competition stand to benefit, among others, consumers. in pricewaterhousecoopers ’ ( pwc ) 21st chief executive officer ( ceo ) survey1, both cyber - threats and the speed of technological change make it into the top six anxieties that keep ceos awake at night. through this innovation and cybersecurity conference, we will, for example, explore, in a round table discussion with industry leaders moderated by governor kganyago, ‘ how exponential technology will drive change in the current financial sector landscape ’. this topic is particularly relevant because exponential technology has the ability to threaten the survival of firms that are highly successful today, even if they spend large amounts on innovation initiatives. it was steve jobs who said : “ innovation has nothing to do with how many r & d dollars you have. when apple came up with the mac, ibm was spending at least 100 times more on r & d. it is not about money. it ’ s about the people you have, how you ’ re led, and how much you get it! ” financial institutions must keep pace with what is happening in the technological sphere if they are to remain relevant and are to survive. environmental forces such as innovation invariably create both threats and opportunities for all the role players, no

share some thoughts and outline the actions we at the hkma are taking in four specific areas, namely, liquidity, products, infrastructure, and outreach. liquidity first and foremost is liquidity. i don't need to preach to a gathering of experienced treasury market participants the notion of " liquidity begets liquidity ". an often - asked question these days is whether hong kong's rmb liquidity pool is big enough. my answer is : it depends. talking about liquidity, size matters. but equally important is the efficiency, or velocity, of the liquidity pool. hong kong's rmb deposit once peaked at 1. 2 trillion yuan before it dipped to the lows of 600 billion yuan in 2017 and regained its current size of around 1. 2 trillion in 2024. throughout this ten - year cycle, we continued to see growing rmb activities in hong kong, in terms of trade settlement, debt issuance, and portfolio flows. one notable example is the tripling of daily rmb turnover through our rtgs system in just six years. all these point to the high efficiency of the liquidity pool. it is therefore fair to say that the current size of the liquidity pool is sufficiently large to support the current scale of offshore business. but further efficiency gains will likely be increasingly marginal. so, if we take a slightly longer - term perspective, there is an 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches obvious need for the liquidity pool to grow, commensurate with the increase in market demand. in this regard, we are studying possible ways to enhance the availability of rmb liquidity to banks, with a view to enabling them to meet client demands for rmb funding. we will continue to engage the industry, including the tma, as we develop and crystallise the various ideas. products now let's turn to products. we will continue to work with fellow regulators to keep expanding the suite of connect schemes and enhancing the design features. in the equity market, the launch of the hkd - rmb dual counter last year has enriched the spectrum of rmb products available. we look forward to the inclusion of the dual counter in the southbound stock connect. meanwhile, dim sum bonds are gathering pace. in july, the government has substantially extended its rmb yield curve by issuing its first 30 - year rmb green bond. the issuance received an overwhelming response and has paved the way for other issuers to follow