On the other hand, the market capitalization of the GAFA – Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple – is 25 times higher than that of the whole FinTech universe. The BigTechs already have a material footprint in financial services1 and competitive advantages to expand their activities further in this area. On top of massive financial resources able to support investment at scale and an undeniable digital agility, they benefit from strong brand recognition, worldwide customer base on which they have accumulated proprietary database and privileged access to forefront technologies. In that context, BigTechs more than FinTechs have the potential to fundamentally  redefine financial intermediation beyond the universal banking model toward integrating financial services within a universal ecosystem. Such a move is already gaining considerable traction in China. And it is raising very fundamental questions to which I will come back. To conclude my first point, digital finance may not lead to a more decentralized system as the centripetal forces of network effects may profit most to large conglomerates. Rather than  eliminating intermediation, if left on its own, digital finance will more likely lead to reshuffling the cards with the most digitally agile incumbents and the most financially able challengers becoming the new dominant (and potentially systemic) intermediaries. II. A common challenge: Rethinking old issues, investigating new ones This leads me to my second point. The digitalization of finance forces us to revisit old regulatory and supervisory questions and to face new ones. Among old issues to revisit, I would like to highlight two of them.

In view of an increased inflationary pressures environment, we have embarked on a gradual process of monetary policy normalisation, aimed at timely returning inflation to the target and at a rather low costs to the economic activity. Nevertheless, the sound balance sheets of households and enterprises, the further expanded Albanian exports, and the decreased uncertainty in response to the expected reduced inflation will continue to feed the economic growth, in turn the latter is expected to remain in positive territory. The sound position of banking system is an added guarantee for the expansion of the economic activity. The healthy and liquid financial balance sheets of the banking sector guarantee that the latter will continue to funding the Albanian households and enterprises, by supporting the expansion of both consumption and investments as well as meeting the temporary needs for liquidity. The coverage and transmission in an objective manner of news to public is an important factor in meeting our objectives for a stable economic and financial environment. In this light, I am pleased to see that the media coverage of the economic and financial developments in Albania and abroad has been fully in compliance with our  1/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  expectations. For this purpose, I would like to thank you for the professionalism and integrity you have demonstrated throughout 2022. In addition, I reaffirm that the Bank of Albania is completely open to listen to your opinions and suggestions for further heightening our collaboration.