in many cases, new entry has helped to offset the effects of consolidation on local market concentration. in addition to acquiring other depository institutions, banks and thrifts have engaged, to a limited extent, in cross - sector acquisitions. in 1999, the gramm - leach - bliley act relaxed many of the restrictions on the financial activities of banking organizations by permitting the formation of financial holding companies - firms that could engage in a wide variety of financial activities, including commercial banking, securities underwriting, and insurance. contrary to many observers'expectations, the ensuing cross - sector consolidation activity has been modest so far. indeed, the largest cross - sector banking deal, the combination of travelers and citicorp, took place in 1998, before gramm - leach - bliley was passed. check truncation act now i would like to take a few minutes to talk about some of our efforts to improve the efficiency of the u. s. payments system, which is a subject of concern for all banks. you may know that i co - chair the payments system development committee with cathy minehan, president of the federal reserve bank of boston. the psdc was formed in mid - 1999 to ( 1 ) identify strategies for enhancing the long - term efficiency of the retail payment systems, ( 2 ) identify barriers to innovation and work to eliminate or reduce those barriers where desirable or appropriate, ( 3 ) monitor developments in payments markets, and ( 4 ) conduct workshops and forums that encourage focused discussions on payments system improvements with the private sector. it is my view that we need to approach payment system innovations with an open mind and a willingness to learn. in a dynamic economy, markets need to play a key role in guiding the development of infrastructure. this means that innovation and competition will be central to the future development of the payments system – as they are in other areas of the economy. policymakers for their part should strive to remove barriers to innovations that do not conflict with important public policies. they should resist calls to limit competition, but rather should take every opportunity to foster competition. similarly, public policy should exercise restraint and resist calls for premature or short - sighted regulation. even well - intentioned actions may create perverse outcomes, may not effectively address longer - term public policy concerns, or may short - circuit creative innovations. on the other hand, public policy will have to confront genuine and significant problems when these become clear and are not self - correcting. now let me tell you about

november 7, 2019 bank of japan japan's experience and its implications for china - - monetary policy and financial system - speech at the pbc school of finance, tsinghua university masayoshi amamiya deputy governor of the bank of japan introduction good afternoon everyone. it is a great honor to have this opportunity to speak to you today at the esteemed tsinghua university. china and japan are only separated by a narrow body of water. this nearness has historically enabled us to interact actively, and our two countries have been learning from each other for a long time. however, knowledge and culture have flowed in one direction or the other over time. during the 19th and 20th centuries, western - style science and technology were transferred through japan to china, as japan advanced in its modernization. but before that, over the centuries, japan had learned a great deal from china. the legacies are still evident in many parts of our society today. for example, learning chinese classical literature and poems is a part of student life in japan. when i was a student, i remember struggling to recite poems written by li bai or du fu and reading chunqiu or the analects of confucius. i would like to quote a phrase in chinese that has remained with me over the years. [UNK] [UNK] [UNK] 不 [UNK] （ wei qiong er bu kun ） 、 [UNK] [UNK] [UNK] 不 [UNK] 也 （ you er yi bu shuai ye ） never become troubled in adversity, never become depressed when worried. these are words from xunzi. the calligraphy in slide 1 was written by yasushi mieno, the 26th governor of the bank of japan ( boj ), who had a deep understanding of china. he gave this calligraphy to me when i served as his secretary. these words were originally intended to explain the attitude toward learning. mr. mieno, however, found in them the importance of fulfilling the responsibilities of the central bank with determination. he always said " one should not run away even when faced with great adversity. " mr. mieno enjoyed a good relationship for a long time with liu hongru, who was deputy governor of the people's bank of china ( pbc ) at that time ( slide 2 ). mr. mieno once told me that, upon the two of them having drunk their hotel dry, mr. liu gave mr. mieno a nickname, " mr. prodigious drinker ( 海 [UNK]