japan, among the various types of private money, a framework of protection provided by deposit insurance for bank deposits was put firmly in place after the crisis of the late 1990s. as for electronic money issued by transport and distribution firms and fintech firms, consumer protection is provided by securing assets. for example, firms issuing electronic money which is convertible to cash are required by law to secure funds equivalent to or more than the amount received from users, by making a security deposit or by other means. as for developments overseas, in china, bigtech firms, including alipay and wechat pay, that provide payment services are required to deposit funds equivalent to the amount received from their users in accounts at the people's bank of china. this could be seen as an example of a scheme where bigtech firms issue private digital currencies based on the credibility of a central bank. in terms of functionality, it is very much the same as narrow banking, where the central bank requires full reserves, and is almost equivalent to cbdc in terms of creditworthiness. to ensure the stability of the retail payment system as a whole, it is essential to design a framework that secures the creditworthiness of private digital currencies. the social impact would increase as the scale of the cashless payment platforms operated by the private sector grows. with regard to payment instruments and services, the authorities would therefore need to put an adequate risk - based regulatory framework in place. as for firms operating payment platforms, they would be required to take responsible action, including adoption of sophisticated risk management procedures and stringent responses to regulatory requirements. general acceptability of money even if the creditworthiness of private digital currencies improves, it does not mean that they will be widely accepted as money. for instance, merchants participating in different payment platforms operated by fintech firms do not necessarily overlap. this means that electronic money issued by a fintech firm cannot be used in transactions with merchants participating in payment platforms operated by different fintech firms. moreover, users cannot conduct p2p money transfers across different payment platforms. thus, electronic money issued by fintech firms is at present considerably inferior to cash in terms of general acceptability. overseas, there are cases where interoperability among payment service providers is ensured. for example, in hong kong, major banks and nonbank payment service providers ( store value facilities ) such as alipay and wechat pay have joined the faster payment system - - a real - time

and allow it to collect public deposits. the licensing of the wmb portrays a new approach considered by the project and bpng to be an effective means to meet the expectations of the local people. the establishment of the lae branch of wau microbank should be seen as a sign of expansion of the microfinance sector in png as more entrepreneurs from the formal and informal sectors will now be served by this microbank. the morobe province has a vibrant economy and there are prospects for the expansion of the microbank to other areas of the province. the success of this branch will show the nation that a microbank can quickly become viable also in urban areas. this province is fortunate to have the microfinance policy of the government being tested with the establishment of the pilot microbank in wau as a ‘ laboratory ’ for testing microfinance products and methodologies. the province should embrace and support the microfinance initiatives as an alternate ‘ vehicle ’ for delivery of financial services to a wider sector of the urban and rural communities. the mcc supported by the bpng are working together to assist any institution, public or private, that wish to serve the microfinance market. i commend the project team from mcc and ibbm for extending the provision of microfinance services to lae city through the establishment of the branch of wau microbank. the bank also acknowledges the continued support of the donor organisations including the adb and ausaid without which this project would not have been established. i am sure your support will be extended to the other provinces as well. i also wish to thank the morobe provincial government and administration for taking a proactive stance in this expansion plan for the wmb. thank you ladies and gentlemen.