national payment infrastructure would not only support payments specific to poland ( such as zus – social insurance institution payments and payments to tax offices ), but also bring unquestionable benefits to polish citizens and companies. ladies and gentlemen, the implementation of sepa is a huge challenge for the polish banking system, for companies that make up the polish payment infrastructure and for many large clients of banks, including clients from the public finance sector. such a huge challenge requires the creation of the vision of sepa, the vision that will unite activities of all stakeholders of this process – from banks, through its clients up to infrastructural and telecom companies. the vision should treat the interests of the clients of the polish and european payment infrastructure as a priority. all stakeholders should remember that only those companies will be successful in the global economy of the 21st century that deliver value to their clients. companies that use cyclical market trends to gain benefits at the expense of their clients are doomed to fail. i would like to call on all those who develop the vision of sepa poland to analyse the functioning of payment systems in the most advanced parts of the world and to benefit from the experience of such countries as singapore, as expressed in the vision entitled “ intelligent nation 2015 ”. let us use the sepa poland process to create a payment system for the 21st century. let us inspire others, including public administration, to act and implement eadministration and e - economy so that poland and europe can be successful in the global economy of the 21st century. thank you very much for your attention. see www. in2015. sg

risk posed by an ageing population. a majority of pension schemes are built on the premise that the government is able to support the defined benefit pension payments as and when they become due. in simple terms, this essentially means that i will be financially taken care of by the government when i'm old. however, this notion may not be financially sustainable anymore as most pension schemes have not imputed the impact of longevity risk at the outset. longevity had resulted in a higher number of retirees drawing pension benefits vis - a - vis the gainfully employed tax - paying persons, thereby contributing to untenable fiscal deficits. in response to this challenge, some countries are shifting towards the defined contribution ( dc ) schemes. however, while a dc scheme could address the issue of sustainability, it would not adequately cater the need to provide a stream of benefit payment throughout the lives of retirees, especially for those who outlived their retirement savings. in malaysia, for example, most of those employed are mandated to contribute to a defined contribution ( dc ) scheme known as the employees provident fund ( epf for short ). a recent survey conducted revealed that a bout 72 % of epf contributors spend their entire epf savings within 3 years of retirement, i. e., by the age of 58, an average retiree would have all his retirement savings depleted. in the case of a man, he has to be financially self - supporting for the next 17 years of his life, assuming he lives till 75. presumably, his retirement needs will be met by family members. however, with diminishing “ extended family ” values, it is uncertain if this will eventually happen. another significant challenge is to modify the structure of mandatory pension schemes itself, of which many are based on a full - time employment model. most countries in this region do not have extensive pension schemes to cover both the formal and informal sectors. i understand that in thailand and china, for example, only about 4 % and 60 % of the labour force is respectively covered. the full - time employment model does not adequately address the profound changes in employment patterns, which economies are now experiencing, such as the increasing number of women in the workforce. then again, most pension schemes are also designed for workers with full and uninterrupted careers. this does not reflect the experience of women, as we see more and more today, who may leave their jobs to become full time housewives or homemaker. breakdown of marriage