in the current environment : is our operational resilience keeping up with the faster pace of digital developments? when it comes to fintech, i think covid - 19 has also accelerated existing trends there too. the future development of fintech is a function of technological innovation and changing consumer preferences. covid - 19 did not immediately bring new technology, but it may have moved consumer preferences more towards digital. people kept contact with each other via zoom and face time and skype. school children all over the world followed online lessons. online retail went through the roof. from there, it may only be a small step to paying with whatsapp, or getting a mortgage from quicken loans. so covid - 19 may have influenced digitalization in many different ways. if there is anything the covid - 19 pandemic has taught us here, it is that adoption of new technology is non - linear. when technology is already available, sometimes it takes only one event to cause a sudden and decisive shift in consumer preferences. this adds all the more urgency to the big questions already on the table before the pandemic. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches how will fintech impact the business model of traditional banks? what role will bigtech firms play? when the lines between banks and technology firms become more and more blurred, who is responsible for security and financial stability? do we understand the algorithms that are being applied increasingly in banking? how do new technologies influence cyber and financial crime? are supervisors sufficiently equipped, in terms of knowledge and staff, to keep up with developments? where are the holes and obstacles in regulation? what does it mean for the level playing field when regulated and unregulated entities compete on the same markets? how can supervisors themselves use the new technologies to improve supervisory practices? and last but not least, there are social issues involved in digitalization. not everyone can keep pace with the current tempo of digitization. digital exclusion of vulnerable groups of consumers, like the elderly or people on a low income, is a serious issue nowadays. this is only a subset of a vast area of questions that are relevant to the stability of the financial system. but i have total confidence this panel of eminent experts will be able to answer these questions shortly. this brings me to the last issue i would like to raise. how should supervisors respond to these changes? there used to be a time when financial supervision was viewed as basically reactive. the idea was that, by nature,

induced them to change their ways just in order to have these marks erased again and thus - in their perception - their wealth restored. friedman concludes that this example illustrates “ how important appearance or illusion or “ myth ”, given unquestioned belief, becomes in monetary matters. our own money, the money we have grown up with, the system under which it is controlled, these appear “ real ” and “ rational ” to us. yet the money of other countries often seems to us like paper or worthless metal, even when the purchasing power of individual units is quite high. ” the euro has been in existence for almost two years now. it does not come in the form of stone wheels. in fact it does not yet have any concrete and tangible expression at all. until the introduction of euro banknotes and coins at the beginning of 2002 it will essentially remain a “ virtual ” currency, which may perhaps seem as remote, unfamiliar and unnatural in the eyes of the public as the stone wheels described by friedman. this lack of tangibility and visibility of the euro in part accounts for the particular challenges that the euro faces in winning the hearts of the general public as a new currency which has yet to replace the familiar and trusted national notes and coins in circulation. as friedman ’ s example shows : symbols may be important in monetary matters. at the same time, irrespective of the particular symbols and media to which money functions are attached - be it stone wheels or computer chips - money is ultimately a question of trust. the euro ’ s current existence as a “ non - tangible currency ” perhaps makes this point - which is valid for any fiat money - more plain and obvious. no matter what specific medium of exchange a society might wish to adopt, the efficiency of money in facilitating economic transactions via the price mechanism depends on its stability as a unit of account, i. e. as a common financial denominator, for the economy. in order to hold and accept money economic agents must not only be confident that money remains accepted as a medium for exchange, but also be confident that money will retain its value over time, thereby ensuring that price signals can provide accurate guidance for markets to function efficiently. in contrast, if money loses its value, this also undermines its usefulness for exchange. indeed in periods of very high inflation currency tends to be replaced, for example, by cigarettes or other goods - or, perhaps, “ bads ” - in everyday transactions. an inflationary currency will simply cease