Technological Innovation and Banking Industry/Monetary Policy: Forum on the Development of Electronic Payment Technologies and Its Implications for Monetary Policy—Report

1. Preface In December 1997, the Bank of Japan established the Forum on the Development of Electronic Payment Technologies and Its Implications for Monetary Policy to examine the influence of the development of electronic payment technologies including electronic money on monetary policy. The forum released the Interim Report in May 1999. Subsequently, the forum expanded the scope of its examinations to the information technology (IT) revolution in general, including electronic payment technologies, and the forum’s name was changed to “Technological Innovation and Banking Industry/Monetary Policy: Forum on the Development of Electronic Payment Technologies and Its Implications for Monetary Policy.” The forum held active discussions regarding the changes to the financial and economic structures prompted by the IT revolution and its effect on monetary policy, based on papers prepared by experts from academia and by the forum’s secretariat (refer to Attachment 1 for a list of the Forum’s members, and to Attachment 2 for an outline of the reports presented in each meeting). This report summarizes the main points that were clarified during the forum’s subsequent discussions, based on the Interim Report.