a medium - sized local bank. as i have already said, the contribution of south east europe, including turkey and romania, to the profitability of greek banks is expected to increase in the future. however, in order to achieve this they have to integrate their new acquisitions smoothly into their systems and culture ; this is by no means an easy task. we at the bank of greece make sure that banks that expand their activities abroad not only have enough capital but also have the organizational structure to support such an expansion. as many of you probably know any acquisition of a credit or financial institution abroad and any expansion of branch network has to be approved by the bank of greece after a thorough assessment of its capital base and its internal control and risk management system. this is not only a regulatory requirement but also a business necessity in order to accurately monitor risks and thus maintain their competitive position in what is a very sought after market.

: large gains often come at the expense of some losses. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches the last paper of this session explores the increasing reliance on bond financing by small, private, and unrated firms in the euro area. i understand that this shift has implications for financial stability and firms'access to credit, especially during economic turmoil. in a more general context, the global rise of bond financing is of course of particular interest in europe, as its financial sector has always been heavily bank - based relative to the us. the topics on which the second session focus follow naturally from the first. we will first see research on the potential of suptech, the use of innovative technology by supervisory agencies to support supervision, in enhancing financial stability. this type of research is of high policy relevance since suptech initiatives have gained momentum around the world, but little is known about how the use of suptech impacts bank behavior. next, we will hear about the emergence of two distinct types of banks - high - rate and lowrate banks - each characterized by different deposit rate behaviors and how technological advancements in banking contributed to the divergence between these two types. understanding this shift is particularly relevant today, as more banks opt to operate online and the allocation of deposits across banks has significant implications for the transmission of monetary policy. the last session of the day features another three interesting papers. the first paper looks on how bankers affect the personal finances of their social connections. this is an idea that it worths examining given that earlier work shows peer effects play an important role in various financial decisions by households. the effect that financial intermediaries have on the macroeconomy, has been central to macroeconomics and has received significant attention from researchers in recent decades. as such, the session also includes a paper on the causal effects of changes in financial intermediaries'net worth in the aggregate economy. finally, the second day of the conference will end with a paper suggesting a unified model on how firms should optimally manage emissions through production, green investment, and the trading of carbon credit. this type of research is extremely important now since the control of carbon emissions is a pressing issue for both policymakers and firms. at this point, let me say that as you know very well, the last few years have been an incredibly challenging time for monetary policymakers. no one could have predicted the series of supply shocks that struck the euro area economy and therefore, no one could have predicted –