heart of their strategy, and 31 % are already purchasing the services of fintech companies. many are also partnering with fintech companies. for bank negara malaysia, we have also embraced the fintech agenda, setting up our internal fintech working group in 2016, launching our fintech sandbox not long after that and finally, organising our very own industry conference – the myfintech week in 2019. to be future ready, we are highly committed to support the digital transformation of the financial sector. earlier this year, we issued the e - kyc policy document to enable digital on - boarding of customers to occur anytime and anywhere. this is expected to be a catalyst in the provision of end - to - end financial services, particularly in a ‘ low touch ’ environment. the financial industry is taking steps to ensure safe and secure introduction of e - kyc, with several banks planning to launch e - kyc solutions in the coming months with more to follow in 2021. we are also currently in the final stages of developing the licensing framework for digital banking, which we envision can enhance access to affordable and quality financial solutions, particularly for the underserved and hard - to - reach market segments. from our sandbox experience, we also observe similar digital alternatives and solutions being developed in the insurance and takaful sector. our shift towards e - payments has also been sustained, with a 47 % increase in the volume of transactions made through internet and mobile banking, and a 260 % increase in active e - wallet users between august 2019 and 2020. furthermore, good progress has been made in enabling the interoperability of e - wallet services offered by banks and non - bank e - money issuers. looking ahead, bank negara malaysia 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches will continue to focus on fostering well - designed regulations to facilitate digitalisation and innovation in financial services. all these efforts are intended to support the financial services industry accelerate its transition to an age of digitalisation and innovation. we have high hopes for islamic finance to capitalise on this. in 2017, we launched the value - based intermediation ( vbi ) initiative. vbi encapsulates the industry ’ s vision to be more impact driven, reinforcing the overarching intent of shariah to promote good and prevent harm on the people and planet, which closely aligns with the global shift towards sustainable finance and esg. through the vbi initiative, islamic financial institutions have also been

policy can make to the economic and financial welfare of canada. inflation, disinflation, and deflation inflation is, of course, defined as a persistent increase in the average price of goods and services ; in other words, a rising trend in the cost of living. in the broadest terms, this is measured by the total, or headline, consumer price index ( cpi ), which tracks the retail prices of a representative " shopping basket " of goods and services over time. it is also the rate that the bank of canada targets for its monetary policy. disinflation occurs when there is a decline in the rate of increase in prices, while deflation refers to a sustained fall in prices ; where the annual change in the cpi actually turns negative year after year. those of you " distinguished " enough to remember the inflation of the 1970s and 1980s may wonder why anyone – particularly a central banker – might be concerned with too low a level of inflation or even a fall in the general price level. the answer is that we are not concerned if these periods are transitory. in fact, as i will discuss in a moment, the bank expects total cpi inflation to be below zero in the second and third quarters of this year before returning to the two per cent target by 2011. while such transitory movements in prices are generally harmless over the long term, greater risks arise from a sustained fall in prices. such deflation, if left unchecked, can weigh on economic activity in two main ways. first, it increases the real burden of debt, making it more difficult for indebted households to consume and leveraged firms to invest. second, if deflationary expectations take hold, purchases and investments may be postponed in the expectation that they can be executed at a lower price at a later date. after all, if prices are falling, why buy that new car or refrigerator – or invest in technology or equipment – when they could be cheaper in six or nine month's time? a mild deflation took hold in japan in the 1990s and was associated with a lost decade of missed economic opportunity. today in the united states, the economy is in the midst of a serious recession and, with the recent dip in u. s. total cpi inflation to below zero, concerns about the possibility of deflation there have increased. recognizing the risks, the federal reserve is responding proactively and presciently – cutting interest rates effectively to zero and committing to using " all available