promote access to financing for smes, can make an important contribution in this field. in any case, it is also necessary to study ways to tackle directly the asymmetric information problems faced by these firms. this in turn requires enhancing the quality and quantity of information available on both the credit track record and the financial situation of companies. in this regard, it is worth mentioning a new regulation recently approved in spain that obliges banks, under certain conditions, to pre - announce three months in advance should they decide not to roll over existing credit lines or loans at maturity. also, in those cases banks are obliged to provide relevant information on the credit profile of their customers whose loans are not rolled over. the banco de espana, in response to the mandate conferred to it under this new regulation, is currently working on a circular, which will specify the relevant information to be bis central bankers ’ speeches provided to the smes in these circumstances, together with a methodology to produce a standardised report on the sme credit assessment. other actions that could also help mitigate the possible frictions in the credit market during crisis periods include those facilitating debt restructuring by improving the bankruptcy legislation. these measures, if well - designed, could help to smooth the reallocation of resources from non - viable firms to viable and productive firms. spain has recently introduced various reforms to improve the effectiveness of bankruptcy procedures, though it is still too early to appreciate in full what additional reforms are needed to further improve those procedures. at the european level, i also welcome the action plan on building a capital markets union recently approved by the european commission. this project envisages some measures to overcome information barriers that could inhibit sme lending. that includes, following the spanish example, the strengthening of the feedback given by banks declining sme applications and the promotion of systems facilitating the availability for investors of comprehensive information on smes. moreover, the action plan also foresees actions to reactivate securitisations markets. let me stress the importance of this specific set of measures. for smaller firms, for which direct access to markets is not feasible due to problems of scale, bank credit will remain the predominant financing source. therefore, an adequate availability of funds for smes requires banks to have sufficient means and capacity to properly conduct their intermediation activity. in that regard, the development of the securitisation markets seems a promising avenue to facilitate credit risk management by banks and, therefore, to support lending. indeed, securi

to better support the needs of users, for example enhanced liquidity management. and we will also look to extend opening hours. strengthened end - to - end risk management : a more robust system with greater oversight and governance from the bank of england has been introduced since the operation of chaps was brought in - house in november 2017. the bank now has responsibility for system - wide risk management, including relationships with participants, and clearer lines of responsibility and integrated governance will help to reduce further the risks in the high - value payment system ( hvps ). today i will cover three key areas : • firstly, how we want to expand access to rtgs to enhance financial stability and promote competition ; bank of england, a blueprint for a new rtgs service for the united kingdom, https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / paper / 2017 / ablueprint - for - a - new - rtgs - service - for - the - uk all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches • secondly, how we are examining ways of supporting settlement across innovative payment technologies ; and • finally how iso 20022 implementation will support innovation, harmonisation and resilience. improving access the bank wants to see the next generation of rtgs support greater competition and innovation within the payments industry. expanding access to the service also has the benefit of providing greater financial stability by reducing operational reliance on a small number of banks and lowering the credit exposures between direct and indirect participants. we have therefore changed the access criteria to enable non - bank payment service providers ( psps ) to join. earlier this year transferwise was the first non - bank to gain direct access to rtgs, followed soon after by ipagoo. going forward we also want to make the onboarding process smoother and more efficient. for instance, we intend to introduce automated testing, which will reduce the burden and manual effort required by both new and existing participants when someone joins rtgs. and we will introduce simulators to help onboarders better familiarise themselves with rtgs and the full functionality it offers before going live. innovative payment technologies the uk is a world - leader in financial services technology and innovation. we have a fintech industry which employs over 60, 000 people. this success is not limited to london ; centres of excellence exist across the country including manchester, leeds, edinburgh and cambridge ( where sir dave ramsden is today chairing a fin