I’d like to begin by addressing the profound impact of today’s technology on banking and the financial markets, then move on to the implications of that impact for effective supervision in the twenty-first century. On the subject of official supervision, I will discuss the Basel Committee’s Core Principles for Effective Supervision, and then conclude with an update on the Committee’s major initiative to revise and refine the 1988 Capital Accord. 1  BIS Review 75/2000  Technology changing the world, banking and supervision It’s been said that information is power. Whoever said that surely never had to deal with the flood of e-mail most of us receive each day. Indeed, with increasing frequency, the complaint nowadays is about “information overload.” With wireless communications enabling us to conduct business anytime, anywhere, I sometimes feel, as I’m sure many of you do, that no matter where I am in the world, I’m expected to be awake and working. For those who occasionally feel overwhelmed by technology’s marvels, it’s worth remembering that there was a time, and not so long ago, when reliable market information was decidedly scarce and concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. The Rothschilds built an international banking empire on the wings of carrier pigeons, whose messages enabled the brothers to buy and sell on information about investment opportunities or financial disasters in distant places long before their competitors heard the news.

12 Milasi S, I González-Vázquez and E Fernandez-Macias (2020) ‘Telework in the EU before and after the COVID-19: where we were, where we head to’. JRC Science for Policy Brief. Mongey, S, L Pilossoph and A Weinberg (2020), “Which Workers Bear the Burden of Social Distancing Policies?”, Covid Economics, Issue 12. CEPR Press Morikawa, M (2020). ‘Productivity of working from home’ Covid Economics, Issue 49, CEPR Press Newport, C. (2014) ‘Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World’ Piatkus 11  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches and @BoE_PressOffice  11  ONS (2020a) ‘Coronavirus and homeworking in the UK labour market: 2019’. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/c oronavirusandhomeworkingintheuklabourmarket/2019#overview-of-homeworking ONS (2020b) ‘Coronavirus and the economic impacts on the UK: 8 October 2020’. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/bulletins/coronavirusandtheeco nomicimpactsontheuk/8october2020 Opezzo, M and Schwartz, D (2014) ‘Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking’ Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, vol. 40, no.4 RSA (2020) ‘Can Good Work Solve the Productivity Puzzle? Collected Essays’. Available at https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/reports/2020/can-good-work-solve-the-productivity-puzzle.pdf TUC (2019) ‘Annual commuting time is up 21 hours compared to a decade ago, finds TUC’ available at https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/annual-commuting-time-21-hours-compared-decade-ago-finds-tuc  12  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches and @BoE_PressOffice  12