There has been a lot of discussion among economists about the current slowdown in productivity and the threat, as some see it, of a “secular stagnation”. Personally, I think that expression is going too far, and you here stand in proof. But for an economy to be competitive and to grow, it needs to increase innovation and its diffusion, not slow it down. The digitalisation of the financial sector can accelerate this positive process: it helps to disseminate technological advances such as electronic signatures, solutions to defend against cyber-attacks or distributed ledger technologies. Innovative and secure payment solutions, such as tomorrow’s blockchains, are also helping to speed up the development of e-commerce and modernise physical trade. Achieving this will require greater harmonisation at European level: in the precise application of the texts governing the financial industry (definition and security of payment services), in more recent fields (crowd-funding) or in the search for greater interoperability of technologies and standards. But, above all, it is vital that we define an overall strategy for European innovation in financial services. This strategy must cover all the issues raised by digital finance: from data protection to the fight against money laundering; from IT security to consumer protection; from financial stability to the social challenges of banking inclusion; from financial literacy to changes in jobs in the financial sector. It is a project currently being conducted by the European Commission. And the Banque de France and ACPR are both playing a part.

The artificial intelligence and chatbots you are developing will help us respond more effectively to the public’s needs; big data, machine learning and biometrics will help us to better prevent fraud; blockchain technology and smart contracts will help to optimise transactions; and your APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and open source technologies will help to make financial technologies more interoperable. When I think, in turn, of what the Banque de France and ACPR can contribute, I’d say this: stable, reliable and agile regulation. Stable because we have a strong anchoring in European regulation: this means that FinTechs established in France can offer their services in all countries in the European Union – it’s what we call “the European passport”. Reliable, because we strive to limit potential risks, so that innovation is always synonymous with customer protection, payment security, IT security and financial stability. But also agile, because innovation must not be stifled by administrative red tape; that’s why we are developing regulations that are based on objectives and principles rather than on rules, and that are proportionate to the scale of the risks. New FinTech players also help to stimulate competition with digital incumbents, and in particular with the initiatives launched by the US web giants. The industrial stakes are high: we need to foster this active competition, which is by far preferable to monopolies, even technological ones. Stable, reliable and agile regulation is a basis for confidence. And confidence is a basis for success in innovation. We want to build this regulation with your active participation.