second, i anticipate that the use of data will become more diverse and extensive. in hong kong, a more vibrant data landscape is expected with the establishment of the government's digital policy office and the convenient and orderly flow of crossboundary data in the greater bay area. in addition, the launch of a government - led data sharing initiative by the end of this year will not only streamline data sharing among government departments, but also open up more types of government data for banks to access through the hkma's commercial data interchange ( cdi ). these government data, including corporate information of registered companies, business registration particulars and tax - related data, among others, have the potential to greatly facilitate banks'operations, including credit assessments, customer due diligence, and risk management. the rich data landscape, combined with financial institutions'responsive use of ai, will further magnify the transformative power of data. third, and most important, i believe that the pace of blockchain innovation, especially tokenisation, will accelerate even further. today, use cases such as tokenised bonds have moved beyond the proof - of - concept phase and have been adopted in real transactions. we ourselves assisted the government in issuing the world's very first tokenised government green bond earlier this year, to demonstrate the compatibility of hong kong's legal and regulatory environment in supporting this innovative issuance format. we are already in discussion with the industry to explore another tokenised issuance to open up new possibilities. moving forward, we can expect a rise in the tokenisation of various assets. to support this gradual adoption of tokenisation, we will also witness an increased adoption of blockchain - based payment methods, including stablecoins and tokenised deposits. i also share the view that cbdcs could usefully serve as a foundation, providing stability and facilitating transfers between wallets and different payment types. that said, despite all the promising signs, there are also some challenges ahead. for example, we will need to address questions such as " how will tokenised securities be defined? " and " can delivery - versus - payment really be achieved? ", not to mention the legal considerations and interoperability challenges that are already under discussion in the wider central banking community. nobody has a crystal ball and can say for sure what will happen in the future. but we can be certain about one thing – fintech will continue to be a continuous, crossdisciplinary

uhlig ( 2001 ), “ defining a macroeconomic framework for the euro area, ” monitoring the ecb 3, cepr, london. see ecb ( 2001 ), “ measures of underlying inflation in the euro area, ” ecb monthly bulletin, pp. 49 - 59. indicator properties. 33 this implies that volatile, flexible prices like those of energy and commodities are very useful and should instead be included in the broad index monitored by the central bank, as they could provide a timely signal of inflationary pressures, arising not only in their specific markets, but more generally in the overall economy. most importantly, a clear and transparent definition of price stability contributes to a firm anchoring of inflation expectations. in the absence of such definition, a sequence of adverse inflationary shocks could be misinterpreted by private agents as a shift in the objective of the central bank, thereby unmooring inflation expectations and eventually leading to second round effects. a definition of price stability in terms of headline cpi inflation provides a clear and measurable yardstick against which the central bank could be held accountable and guidance for forming expectations of medium - term price developments. 34 at the same time various measures of “ underlying inflation ” are analysed as indicator variables in the context of our regular and comprehensive assessment of risks to price stability, as this may help, on occasion, in assessing longer - term price dynamics. closing remarks how can monetary policy maintain and consolidate the current gains in terms of a low and stable inflation environment, while contributing in reaping the benefits from the process of globalisation? against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving world economy, monetary policy needs to be firmly geared to maintaining price stability over the medium - term, pinning down trend inflation. a forward - looking policy stance is thus most appropriate, which closely monitors the ramifications of globalisation for inflation, looking through temporary changes, being constantly alert and remaining firmly committed to preventing second round effects. i thank you for your attention. see cristadoro r., forni m., reichlin l. and g. veronese ( 2005 ), “ a core inflation index for the euro area, ” journal of money, credit and banking vol. 37 ( 3 ), pp. 539 - 560 ; and lenza, m. ( 2006 ), “ hicp and core inflation in the euro area, ” ecb, mimeo. for the purpose of setting a quantitative objective for monetary policy, a