. • lloyd ’ s has estimated that even a modest an increase in penetration rates for catastrophe will allow for a large reduction in the economic costs that are being borne by governments and local communities in asia. 37. so far the take - up of catastrophe insurance in asia has been woefully low. part of the reason has to do with a lack of insurance awareness among businesses around the region. but it also has to do with data gaps – the industry needs good data on the frequency, location and economic impact of natural disasters, so that insurers and reinsurers can price risks adequately. so we have had a limited supply of insurance coverage, that has itself led to higher cost of protection, which in turn discourages demand for insurance against catastrophe risks. 38. but we can solve this problem. we can overcome the fragmentation of data in asia, pool data so as to facilitate more efficient underwriting of catastrophe risks. here too, we have an initiative in singapore called the natural catastrophe data analytics exchange ( nat cat dax ). • nat cat dax is a public - private partnership, involving several leading global insurers, the public sector and our research institutes ; • it is using high resolution data obtained through remote sensing technologies – from satellites, drones and uavs – and combining that with industry data to much richer database on natural disasters ; • we welcome more in the industry to join the founding members in this initiative. cyber insurance 39. the third major, emerging opportunity is in cyber insurance. the good news is that asia is the most rapidly growing digital market globally. but it also means increasing costs of cyber attacks. this is a global problem, and we face it here in asia. the frequency, sophistication bis central bankers ’ speeches and the sheer audacity of cyber - attacks is growing. it will pose huge costs to our economies, and to corporate and personal privacy. 40. the demand for protection will grow, not just the need to insure against losses but also the demand from businesses who wish to strengthen their resilience and to recover more quickly from security breaches. 41. but the market needs development. it ’ s still in its infancy. we have to increase awareness of the importance of insurance in dealing with cyber risk. again, however, the data needed for efficient underwriting of risk is weak. we need to strengthen collaboration between the industry, government and academia to build reliable databases and analytical tools to enable the efficient underwriting of cyber risk

malcolm edey : the card payments review speech by mr malcolm edey, assistant governor ( financial system ) of the reserve bank of australia, at the cards & payments australia conference, melbourne, 12 may 2016. * * * thank you once again for the opportunity to address this event. in some ways this is an awkward time to be giving a speech on card payments. as you know, the reserve bank payments system board has been conducting a comprehensive review of its regulation in this area. that review is now nearing completion. it is expected to be finalised at the board ’ s next meeting, which will take place next week. obviously i can ’ t pre - empt any decisions that might come out of that meeting. instead what i would like to do is offer a kind of curtain - raiser, by summarising the history of the review and the way it has unfolded to date. i plan to do that under three headings : the background, the issues and the process. the background let me begin with some brief background. the current arrangements for payments system regulation date back to the wallis reforms that were enacted in 1998. those reforms : • established a separate payments system board of the reserve bank with a majority of independent directors, • gave the board the power to designate payment systems, and to set regulatory standards for designated systems in relation to such matters as access and pricing, • set the policy objectives of the board as efficiency, competition and stability. the wallis report recommended an initial focus on credit cards, and accordingly this was the first area of regulatory action taken by the new board. the four - party credit card schemes were designated in 2001 and, after a period of consultation, a package of reforms was implemented from 2003 onwards. the key elements of that package are well known and are still in place. they included : • a weighted average cap on interchange fees of 50 basis points • an access regime for credit card schemes, and • removal of no - surcharge rules imposed by the schemes. subsequently a package of reforms for debit cards was introduced in 2006. the thinking behind these regulatory measures was heavily focused on the efficiency of price signals to consumers. interchange fees and surcharging rules were at the heart of this, and it is not surprising that they remain central to the current review. the board ’ s early work recognised that interchange fees play an important role in influencing the incentives to use particular payment instruments. in commercial terms, interchange fees serve the purpose of rebala