in turn. customer centricity financial innovation and technological solutions in payments must be driven to address the public's needs. here, simple, cost - efficient and secure solutions are key features that should be embedded in designing products. these innovative solutions should also be made accessible to a wide range of users, including the unserved and those who may be less digitally savvy. businesses, including small and micro firms, will benefit from innovative payment solutions that are both cost - competitive and able to integrate seamlessly with back - end operational processes. solutions should support efficient supply chain management or record - keeping, which in turn can facilitate businesses to secure financing to expand their operations. at the same time, robust prudential safeguards and market conduct standards are important building blocks to ensure consumer interests remain protected. 4 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches close collaboration in malaysia, we are blessed with a vibrant payment ecosystem where traditional and fintech players have each benefitted from their unique strengths. our banks are resilient, and well - resourced and have instituted robust and comprehensive risk management capabilities, providing them the ability to scale up in a cost - effective manner. on the other hand, non - bank and fintech players are more agile with greater flexibility to experiment and push for payment services with expanded value add. by harnessing potential synergies, we have seen the increased collaboration between the fintechs and the traditional players ( banks and insurers ), which offer value - added solutions beyond conventional payment services – such as remittance, microinsurance, micro - financing and micro - investments, catering to the needs of the unserved or underserved segments of the economy. increasing partnerships between players across jurisdictions is also being observed, which can potentially maximise the value of each other's network to better serve their customers. collaboration between regulators and industry players is also vital. recognising the fast - evolving advancement in technology and business models, the regulatory environment needs to also be calibrated. the bank is therefore committed to ensure that our regulatory framework continues to evolve such that we can create a conducive environment where healthy competition and productive innovation are nurtured and agile players are given an equal chance to flourish. continuous learning the last point i want to emphasise is the importance of continuous learning. the bank, as a regulator, together with the industry, must diligently work towards building our own internal capacity to keep in line with

inflation through 2006, despite appreciably stronger output and employment growth, may indicate that developments have been influenced by conditions on the production and supply side of the economy. the present economic expansion differs from previous upturns in that inflation has remained low so far despite strong growth and increasing capacity utilisation. there are probably several reasons for this. first, low import prices and high prices for our commodity exports have improved norway ’ s terms of trade considerably. prices for oil and gas, shipping, fish, industrial commodities and engineering products have increased considerably. moreover, norwegian importers have gained access to new markets in central europe and asia which offer considerably cheaper consumer goods. the terms of trade have improved by about 40 per cent since 2002. a similar situation has not been seen since world war i when earnings in the shipping industry and other export industries were exceptionally high for a period. second, an ample supply of labour has boosted output growth. a strong increase in the population has expanded the growth capacity of the norwegian economy without a comparable increase in wages. in particular, the supply of foreign labour has increased sharply after eu enlargement in 2004. over the past two years, these labour inflows have accounted for over 30 per cent of growth in the labour force in norway. at the same time, this has enabled norwegian companies to be bolder in accepting new assignments and investing knowing that they can procure labour throughout europe. in addition to increased labour inflows from poland, lithuania and other central european countries, we have long benefited from inflows of labour from sweden. many workers are on temporary assignment and their consumption is primarily concentrated in their home country. the norwegian economy has seen a net capacity increase. third, the norwegian business sector has been quick to integrate new technology. this applies both to companies competing on international markets and those supplying goods and services to the domestic market. in comparison with other countries, it is particularly productivity gains in banks and other service sectors that stand out. examples are automated processes and swifter payments in the financial industry and improved inventory and management systems in commerce and transport. this results in lower production costs. solid productivity growth and high prices for export goods, and goods and services supplied to the petroleum sector have contributed to a fall in the wage share of norwegian enterprises in recent years, despite a low rise in prices for consumer goods and services in norway. wage shares have also fallen in many other countries. the global supply of labour has increased as result of the integration