branch form, reserve bank of india issues a single class of banking licence for conducting all type of banking business, ranging from retail, wholesale, forex and derivative products, credit cards, etc. there is no restriction as to the type of business to be conducted through branches unlike in some other countries where restrictions are placed on acceptance of retail deposits, conducting business in local currency, types of clientele, region, availability of deposit insurance, access to clearing and settlement systems etc. as on october 31, 2014, there are 44 foreign banks in india operating through a network of 318 branches. also, 45 foreign banks have presence in india in the form of representative offices. 14. foreign banks are present in india in the branch mode since mid - nineteenth century. also, foreign banks were allowed to set up a wholly owned subsidiary ( wos ) in india. to operationalise the fdi guidelines, the reserve bank released the roadmap for presence of foreign banks in india on february 28, 2005. the roadmap was divided into two phases – the first phase spanning the period march 2005 to march 2009 and the second phase beginning after a review of experience gained in the first phase. 15. in the first phase, foreign banks already operating in india were allowed to convert their existing branches to wos while following the ‘ one - mode presence ’ criterion and the wos was to be treated at par with the existing branches of foreign banks for branch expansion in india. during the first phase no foreign bank came forward to set up or convert their branches into wos in the absence of adequate incentives. as the time came to review the experience gained in the first phase, global financial markets were in turmoil and there bis central bankers ’ speeches were uncertainties surrounding the financial strength of banks around the world. at that time it was considered advisable to continue with the current policy and procedures governing the presence of foreign banks in india. 16. building on the lessons from the financial crisis, reserve bank issued a discussion paper in january 2011 on the mode of presence of foreign banks in india. taking into account the feedback received on the discussion paper, the framework for setting up of wholly owned subsidiary ( wos ) by foreign banks in india was released in november 2013. those foreign banks which have commenced banking business in india through a branch mode after august 2010 shall convert into a wholly owned subsidiary if they meet the set conditions and prescribed regulatory thresholds. the conditions would be, such as, foreign banks incorporated in a

responding to leaps in payments : from unbundling to stablecoins christina segal - knowles1 executive director financial market infrastructure directorate westminster business forum thursday 22 january 2020 i would like to thank holly snaith, michaela costello, rachel james and josh sadler for their assistance with preparing this speech. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches good morning. i would like to thank the westminster business forum for inviting me to speak at today ’ s seminar on ‘ payments policy and regulation - infrastructure, innovation and end - user priorities ’. i ’ d like to start today by telling two short ( and seemingly unrelated ) stories. the first is the story of perhaps the first giant leap forward in payments – the introduction of paper money. paper money was invented in china as early as the tenth century. merchants seeking to avoid carrying around heavy iron coins began issuing ious written on mulberry bark. the state eventually took over – outlawing private ious and banning counterfeit – and the first state - backed currency was born. when marco polo arrived in the mid thirteenth century, he was so amazed by this invention that he devoted an entire chapter of the marvels of the world to kublai khan ’ s tree bark money. but, the first big leap forward in payments ultimately ended in a leap backwards. by the mid - fifteenth century, china had eliminated paper money entirely. the state had issued too much money and counterfeit was rife. ultimately, mismanagement of the new invention resulted in what was perhaps the world ’ s first hyperinflation. china didn ’ t adopt paper money again for several hundred years. although paper money eventually made a comeback, it took generations. the second story i would like to tell is a bit more mundane : the story of my breakfast. on the way to this conference, i stopped to get a coffee and paid for it by tapping my phone against an ipad. of the other people in line in the busy coffee shop, not a single one paid in cash – everyone was tapping cards or phones. the story of my breakfast won ’ t be a surprise to most of you – indeed card payments have become the norm in many parts of the uk. the proportion of uk payments made with cash has fallen from 60 % in 2008 to 28 % just ten years later. this of course has implications for financial inclusion, which i won ’ t cover today as i don ’ t have time to