euro works – that is, in my view, plain to see. since 1999, the euro area has grown to a community of more than 330 million people. it is the world ’ s second largest economy, accounting for around a quarter of global exports and more than 15 % of global investment. and the euro has established itself as a strong and stable reserve currency. in that time, the european central bank ( ecb ) has maintained price stability in line with its mandate, despite the most severe crisis since the 1930s. we have defended our currency bis central bankers ’ speeches against unfounded fears about a break - up of the euro area. all this means that countries that join the euro area today can be confident that its central pillar, its monetary policy, is sound. i understand that there are some concerns here about the changeover to the euro potentially leading to opportunistic price rises. but the latvian authorities are taking measures to prevent this. these measures build on the experience from 17 previous euro changeovers. i call on all those involved to remain attentive to these initiatives. for its part, the ecb will be conducting a communication campaign to ensure that the people of latvia are well informed about the euro coins and banknotes, in particular the security features of the banknotes. ensuring sustainable convergence the second lesson we have learned is that to prosper within monetary union, countries need to ensure sustainable convergence. sustainable convergence means more than meeting a set of nominal targets at a certain point in time. it requires real economic, legal and institutional convergence prior to adopting the euro. and crucially, it requires continued efforts once inside monetary union. the reason that many countries are making painful adjustments today is that once inside the euro area, they allowed themselves to diverge too much. i know the authorities here are aware of the key challenges of maintaining convergence. these include, first of all, avoiding a renewed boom - bust cycle in latvia following euro adoption. this implies that the authorities need to continue with sound fiscal policies, and to ensure that labour cost developments remain conducive to competitiveness. the challenges also include strengthening further the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions in latvia. and finally they include safeguarding the long - run stability of the banking and wider financial sector. i am therefore confident that by keeping the right policy orientation, the ingredients are present for latvia to thrive within the euro area. completing economic and monetary union the third lesson we have learned since 1999 is that we need to complete our

zeti akhtar aziz : electronic payments in malaysia speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the promotion of electronic banking and payments launching ceremony, electronic banking : the way forward, kuala lumpur, 8 may 2003. * * * bismillahirrahmanirahim dr. rozali bin mohamed ali chairman of the association of banks in malaysia ( abm ) ladies and gentlemen good morning, it gives me great pleasure to launch the abm programme to promote electronic payments in malaysia. this programme is to raise the awareness on the changes in technology and how they are affecting banking and payments in malaysia. there is enormous potential that technological developments can bring to transform the financial industry in a manner that will bring significant gains to businesses and consumers. the rapid pace of advancement in information technology and communication networking has offered a wide range of delivering channels in retail banking. banking institutions need to exploit the opportunities that arise from these developments and changes to remain competitive. the successful financial institutions in the future will be those that are able to leverage most from the information and communications technology revolution. increasingly, consumers are also demanding more efficient banking services and are becoming more discerning of the power that the technology brings. the winners will be those financial institutions that are able to harness on the capability of ict in making strategic decisions in terms of enabling better alignment of business, enhancing organisational capacity and capability, risk management and building better customer relationship. attention at the highest management level is therefore vital to ensure the formulation of the most appropriate ict strategies for banks to remain competitive. the new banking environment is about differentiating banking products and services that provide increased choices, control, security and accessibility. the ability of financial institutions to deliver products and services in the most efficient and effective manner will be key to determining performance and relevance. in this area, financial institutions in malaysia have not been behind in embracing the rapidly evolving technologies and in taking initiatives to enhance the delivery channels. there are 12 banks offering internet banking facilities while five have introduced mobile banking. the adoption of chip technology now also offers new forms of payment choices and higher security to the public. the introduction of the bankcard to replace the magnetic stripe atm cards and efforts towards migrating to emv compliant credit cards before end - 2004 is indeed an important step forward. a further development has been the introduction of the meps cash, the national e - purse scheme as an alternative electronic payment mode to using cash for making retail payments. the atm