2026 Agenda
Sun 15 Nov11:10–11:50amForum Stage
Building the Rails: Designing the Foundation for Financial Innovation (Governors' Panel)
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About This Session
The first choices made in a national payment system are difficult to reverse. Who owns the switch, who governs access, how fees are set and who pays for upgrades can determine the market that develops on top of it. Publicly funded rails can widen access but leave the state carrying long-term costs. Commercial models can create stronger incentives to invest while making access harder for smaller providers. Bakong offers one model: a national network connecting banks and e-wallets through shared infrastructure and interoperable QR payments. The panel compares the ownership, governance and funding choices available to emerging markets and asks which capabilities must remain under national control, which can be shared with industry, and what makes an open payment network financially sustainable.
- When
- Sunday 15 November11:10–11:50am, Cambodia time
- Where
- Forum Stage
- Access
- Open
More Bakong - Sovereign Rails Sessions
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1:30–3:00pmMon 16 NovRoundtableOpen
Bakong - Sovereign Rails
Who Owns the Rails? Governance, Access and the Economics of Shared Infrastructure
RoundtableOpen
About this session
Shared payment infrastructure creates value precisely because competitors use the same network, but that makes ownership and funding contentious. Banks may resist paying for infrastructure used by newer competitors. Fintechs may resist access terms controlled by incumbents. Governments may finance the network and still face pressure over unequal access or rising operating costs. Different markets have taken different approaches, including central-bank ownership, industry-owned switches and open-source infrastructure. The roundtable compares these models through three questions: who owns the rail, who gets access and on what terms, and who pays to maintain and upgrade it. It then examines how those choices change once infrastructure crosses borders and sovereignty becomes shared rather than purely national.