##dc. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches e - hkd pilot programme today's event marks the commencement of the e - hkd pilot programme, which is a key component under rail 2. it is a tremendous opportunity for the hkma to work with the industry to consider different use cases and design choices, and co - create new payment functionalities and infrastructures that could add value to society. we look forward to this public - private partnership in shaping the future of money in hong kong. we will follow an iterative process for the pilot programme. each iteration will last for about a year and it will help enrich our perspective and refine our approach to a possible implementation of e - hkd. given the already vibrant retail payment landscape in hong kong, we understand clearly that the decision to implement e - hkd would very much depend on whether it can make payment more efficient and convenient than the existing payment methods and whether it can unlock new business opportunities. this is why the experiences from the pilot programme would be crucial in informing our policy decision. selected pilot programme participants i am very excited to see that the pilot programme has attracted immense industry interest. 16 companies have been selected to participate in the first batch of the pilot programme for 2023. these participants, some in groups, will work on 14 pilots which will span across six major categories, covering programmable payments, " dual offline " payments, and other new developments with the use of blockchain technology, such as settling web3 transactions and tokenised assets. these innovative use cases proposed by the industry truly open our eyes to new possibilities of what central bank money can do, and how e - hkd can potentially benefit the general public and businesses in hong kong. we will invite selected participants to come on stage shortly to give a brief overview of their proposed use cases. we also aim to share the key learnings of the pilot programme at the hong kong fintech week in november this year. i trust that the outcomes and insights gained from each of the above pilots should help enrich our perspective and refine our focus and priority of the pilot programme in subsequent years. cbdc expert group besides the pilot programme, the hkma is also fostering closer government - industryacademia collaboration on cbdc research. we plan to form a cbdc expert group to bring together leading professors from local universities, who will come from different fields, such as computer science, business and law. i am glad to tell you

currency. notwithstanding the encouraging developments over the past years, the capacity of the regional bond markets is still limited compared with the huge infrastructure and other financing needs of the region, resulting in heavy reliance on bank financing. much work still needs to be done, including but not limited to expanding the issuer and investor types, gradual liberalisation of barriers to entry of non - resident investors, promoting financial infrastructure linkages, improving corporate disclosure and transparency, more standardisation in legal and governance terms, to name a few. policymakers will have a key role to play in facilitating market developments and removing market impediments in the process. and we hope to see adb, the region ’ s long - standing partner in promoting bond market development, to further its efforts and cooperation with governments in the region on this front. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches