services through various channels to cater to the needs of different consumer groups. the industry should continuously identify and address any gaps in the current e - payment infrastructure and services by improving their product offerings. for instance, building on the wider penetration of online banking services which now have a total of 17 million subscribers ( of whom 7. 5 million are active users ), banks have also provided alternatives to consumers to conduct electronic funds transfers using either the interbank giro ( ibg ) or the instant interbank fund transfer ( ibft ) via 9, 410 atms and 2, 475 selfservice internet kiosks nationwide. while the fees imposed for ibg and ibft are differentiated, consumers are given choices that suit their preference. to promote infrastructure sharing and reduce cost and enhance online bill payment facilities in malaysia, there is currently an ongoing industry initiative led by the malaysian electronic clearing corporation sdn. bhd. ( or myclear in short ) to develop a national bill payment scheme known as jompay. jompay leverages on shared infrastructure to significantly expand the scope and utility of bill payment facilities. at present, customers can only use the online channel of a bank to make bill payments to merchants who maintain banking relationships with the same bank. this is set to change with the implementation of jompay, which is a common and open platform that allows customers of any bank to make online bill payments to any merchant registered with jompay. in other words, a merchant will be able to receive payments from customers across all participating banks. this would not only reduce duplication of investment costs by the banks, but also bring about greater convenience, cost savings and efficiency gains to both consumers and merchants. jompay is targeted to be rolled - out in phases starting from next month. ( in the next presentation, the director of payment systems policy department will provide you with further details of the supporting e - payment infrastructure and the strategies undertaken by bank negara malaysia to accelerate the country ’ s migration to e - payments. ) d. safeguarding the security of transactions ladies and gentlemen, let me now move on to the issue of security and consumer confidence in the use of online banking and e - payments. considerable efforts have also been taken by the industry to improve user confidence in the use of payment cards. as i mentioned earlier, the banking industry had migrated our payment cards to the more secure chip - based cards in 2005. the investment cost of rm200 million was subsequently recovered through the projected

these measures are necessary to secure long term sustainable prosperity and modernisation of the country as we move forward. lest we forget, a well - compensated labour force also makes for good consumers as well. devising policy to be part of the future. we are constantly crafting policies to secure a stronger foothold in the future. businesses and policymakers need to be proactive and agile. to embrace and facilitate, not to deter or hinder. this is the bank ’ s modus operandi in embracing financial technology, or fintech for short. we were one of the pioneers to implement a regulatory sandbox, which allows for the safe experimentation of fintech innovations. we shall facilitate and make the hard decisions necessary if the innovations benefit the economy, even if it means changing the status quo. in meeting demands of the future economy, malaysia welcomes innovators to develop the ‘ next big thing ’. this year, the government launched the world ’ s first digital free trade zone in collaboration with e - commerce giant, alibaba group. the hub will be alibaba ’ s first e - hub foray out of china. 5 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches the sharing economy is another new source of growth that promises to increase efficiency in an inclusive manner. unlike the conventional work structure, it is accessible to anyone who has idle or under - utilised assets, skills or time to spare. recognising its vast potential, the government has partnered with the industry to promote sharing economy, while safeguarding against its risks. the measures include ensuring adequate worker and consumer protection, and creating a level playing field. population that is used to change, reform and transformation. malaysia is no stranger to change and reform. our people are very adaptable. we used to be a primary commodity producing economy in the 1960s and 1970s, before embarking on import substitution and then manufacturing. in merely two decades, we have transformed from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing powerhouse. since the asian financial crisis, we have metamorphosed the economy from an export dependent to a domestic driven economy. and now, malaysia embarks on a journey into high - value growth activities. we are confident in achieving our quest to be a high income nation with equity. today, amazon has steadily nudged out physical retailers, rendering them almost - obsolete at retail outlets. soon, checkout counters would seem as foreign as cassette tapes to our millennials. while driverless cars seems to be the “ in ”