set out the uk ’ s approach to cryptoassets and distributed ledger technology in financial services4 ; examining challenges in cross - border payments with colleagues from the bank of canada and monetary authority of singapore 5 ; exploring how as set out by mark carney in his 2018 mansion house speech, “ new economy, new finance, new bank ”, available at https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2018 / mark - carney - speech - at - the - lord - mayors - bankers - and - merchants - dinner - mansion - house. “ a platform for innovation ”, available at https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2019 / mark - carney - speech - at - innovate - financeglobal - summit - 2019. i set out our ambitions for the fintech hub in my speech “ open to fintech ”, available at https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2018 / dave - ramsden - speech - hmts - international - fintech - conference. see https : / / www. gov. uk / government / publications / cryptoassets - taskforce see https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / 2018 / november / boe - boc - mas - joint - report - digital - transformation - in - cross - border - payments all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches financial services might evolve over the next decade as part of the bank ’ s future of finance project6 ; and analysing everything from the potential role of bigtechs in financial services to the implications of open banking and psd2. but instead of looking back, i want to stay faithful to the spirit of today ’ s session and look forward to the contributions the bank can make to the future of finance. fintech is one of the bank ’ s seven strategic priorities for 2019. in particular i ’ ll discuss three key areas of fintech hub focus in 2019 : payments ; unbundling ; and artificial intelligence. 7 payments the first area i ’ ll focus on is payments. while the bank is not nearly as old as the guildhall, this year we are celebrating 325 years as the uk ’ s central bank ; that includes 325 years of providing foundational payments services. payments have become increasingly digital in recent years, and there are now

co. uk / / media / boe / files / payments / a - blueprint - for - a - new - rtgs - service - for - the - uk. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches second, as well as renewing rtgs, we, alongside pay. uk, are moving uk payment systems onto the iso 20022 messaging standard. 10 that should bring many benefits, including better interoperability between payment systems, lower entry costs and the possibility of innovative data services to users. we are also working closely with our international peers to promote the harmonisation of iso20022 globally, which could increase efficiencies and facilitate easier and so cheaper cross - border payments. and third, as the governor highlighted yesterday, we are opening up direct rtgs access to a broader range of firms. five non - bank payment service providers now hold accounts in rtgs, and have seen benefits including faster transaction times and lower reduced individual transaction costs, and around twenty further firms are exploring the possibility of joining. unbundling the evolution of payment systems is just one example of unbundling, the second area that i ’ m going to focus on today. emerging business models can unbundle traditional financial services activities into individual core functions such as settling payments, performing maturity transformation and allocating capital. we are already seeing the benefits of unbundling – established and challenger banks alike are deploying sophisticated mobile apps that allow consumers to manage their finances, initiate payments and help with budgeting. insurance startups are responding to the growth of the gig economy by offering highly personalised / tailored insurance products that combine traditional home and / or motor insurance with business coverage for temporary use. but while fintech could help increase competition in financial services, some of these new solutions might also lead to the migration of activity outside the perimeter of prudential regulation. so it is important that we analyse the implications of any such migrations for financial stability as well as the impact on, and strategic response of, the banks and insurers that we supervise through the pra. this will be an important area of work for the fintech hub, working with supervisory colleagues in the pra, in the coming months. ai the third area i ’ ll touch on, artificial intelligence, is an example of how a general - purpose technology is reshaping our world, with the potential to revolutionise the nature of both work and commerce. this