First G20
Finance Ministers And
Central Bank Governors Meeting
SESSION II
26 February 2021
SESSION II
PRESS CONFERENCE
Remarks by Governor Visco
Good afternoon,

Today we had a very productive
session on financial stability and
All delegates provided valuable contributions
financial inclusion.
to the discussion and expressed
broad support for the Italian G20
in these areas.
Presidency's priorities

We had a more in-depth discussion on
the lessons learned during
from a financial stability perspective. This is the first
the pandemic
initiative of the work programme agreed with the Financial Stability
Board for 2021. We focused on
the main areas that will be covered
financial institutions' use of capital and
namely
in its assessment,
liquidity buffers, the impact of pro-cyclicality on financial and
prudential standards, and the functioning of operational resilience
arrangements and crisis management frameworks under the strain of
the pandemic. With the pandemic still ongoing, we acknowledge
that
any assessment of lessons learned will inevitably be
and tentative. But it is important to start this work now,
preliminary
in order to understand
whether the regulatory reforms introduced
and
after the global financial crisis are working as intended,
whether they have contributed to enhancing the resilience of the
banking sector under the first major test presented by the pandemic.
The analysis will help to identify policy issues of international
relevance and assess whether some adjustments to the existing
framework may be necessary. The initial findings will be discussed
by Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) in July
and the final report will be delivered to the G20 Summit in October.
 The Italian Presidency's finance agenda
for 2021 includes a number
of other key priorities, among which an
initiative to strengthen the
and work to
resilience of nonbank financial intermediaries
implement the G20 roadmap on enhancing cross-border
These issues were not discussed today. We will provide
payments.
you with more detailed information on these items as they are taken
up in future G20 FMCBG meetings.

Today we also focused on The outbreak of the
financial inclusion.
COVID-19 pandemic appears to have disproportionately affected
the most vulnerable individuals and firms across the globe, with
many of them experiencing severe losses of income and proving
unable to withstand the financial distress because of low or
inexistent liquid reserves. We shared the
need to analyse and
also in relation
address the gaps that emerged during the crisis,
to the acceleration of digitalization in payments and financial
services.

The
new sources of finance and new payment channels can help
but there is also a
to make headway with financial inclusion,
shared understanding about the risk of new forms of exclusion that
needs to be adequately addressed.

Digital infrastructures, financial and digital literacy, and
and complementary
customer protection are all necessary
elements that will play a part in shaping the transformation towards
a more resilient and inclusive financial system, leveraging the
opportunities offered by technology.

We all agreed that
the G20 has a shared responsibility to facilitate
a more equal and widespread access to responsible financial
as an essential pillar to support strong,
products and services
sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

Finally, concerning work on climate-related issues, a consensus was
reached on an important new initiative as
Finance Ministers and
Governors agreed to relaunch the Sustainable Finance Study
chaired jointly by China and the US (and possibly transform
Group
it into a working group). A detailed work plan of the Group will be
finalized in the coming weeks. The FSB will also work on data
availability and disclosure standards for companies.

We are now ready to take your questions.