success in the mpf business also requires an established customer base, good distribution networks and strong brand image. all this means that the mpf is not a business where small players can hope to be successful on a stand - alone basis. even for the large companies that have captured the lion's share of the business, the start - up costs and the ongoing expenses mean that it will probably take a few years for them to break even and still longer to achieve a reasonable return of capital. however, this should not blind us to the strategic importance of the mpf for the banking and financial services industry in hong kong. this is why it was vital for the smaller banks to pool their resources in the bank consortium trust. this has enabled them to establish a credible vehicle and win a market share that is probably larger than the shareholders could have achieved if they had acted independently. the strategic appeal of the mpf lies not simply in the long - term profit opportunities that it offers directly. it is also that it will help to build a relationship with both employers and their employees that can be used to generate cross - selling opportunities. this will be aided by the fact that the relationship established via the mpf is likely to be a sticky one, and companies are unlikely to shift to another scheme unless there are good reasons to do so. this does not mean, however, that mpf providers can afford to provide a bad service. if they do, they will destroy goodwill and make it more difficult to sell other products. the cross - selling opportunities provided by the mpf are not theoretical. there are already signs that it is making an impact on sales of other funds to individuals. as your association recently announced, the fund penetration rate in hong kong has risen from 7. 8 % to 10 % in a year. this is a creditable performance in view of the weakness in the stock market. one of the reasons for the increasing willingness to invest in funds is undoubtedly the low return now offered by bank deposits. however, it also appears that the marketing of the mpf over the last year has helped by focussing employees'attention on the attractions of funds for long - term savings purposes and on the need to plan for retirement. the role of the regulators i have talked so far about the involvement of the banks in mpf business. in practice, however, the role played by banks themselves is mainly to act as intermediaries, selling and advising on mpf schemes. the various mpf services – trustee

##que de france is going to add, alongside some of you, three more experiments to the nine already carried out ; it is also with this in mind that the bank organised a pioneering international conference on 27 september on the tokenisation of finance. on a regulatory level, france was one of the first to propose a new dasp status under its 2019 pacte law, which has since been attributed to 54 players. europe has provided a pioneering regulatory framework for crypto - assets thanks to the mica regulation ; following the agreement obtained under the french presidency, it is crucial that it be adopted, and as quickly as possible. in the meantime, we will remain extremely vigilant regarding the risk of regulatory arbitrage in europe. on a global level, it is imperative that the other large jurisdictions – including the largest one – now implement the shared recommendations of the g20 and fsb on consumer protection, financial stability and the prevention of money laundering. we all confirmed our agreement last week in washington : this is good news for “ trusted innovation ”, but we need to turn our words into action on everything, and quickly, following the examples of france and europe. * * * to conclude, i would like to come back to our work as a “ catalyst ” for innovation. as aristotle said “ what we need to learn before doing, we learn by doing ” : internally, we encourage a culture that is geared towards innovation, with the page 5 of 5 launch of an intrapreneurship programme to foster innovative ideas. we also want to co - construct and test out with you innovative solutions to digital challenges, for example a collaborative method for preventing money laundering, or a security solution that can withstand the huge processing capabilities of future quantum computers. we shall continue on this path. thank you for your attention. i new payment stakeholders overview ( banque - france. fr ) digital players in the financial sector : a step towards profitability? | banque de france ( banque - france. fr ) iii digital transformation in the french banking sector | banque de france ( banque - france. fr ) iv charter for the appraisal of fintech authorisation requests | banque de france ( banque - france. fr ) ii