higher than at the end of 2022 ( 247 % ). liquidity had been the big worry in early 2023 in the wake of the silicon valley bank crisis. here too, french banks demonstrated their soundness : at the end of 2023, their aggregate lcri stood at 147 %, and their nsfrii at 115 %, well above the minimum of 100 % [ slide 6 ]. image liquidity : french banks are also solid the supervisor's report does not highlight any specific vulnerability in terms of liquidity for the six main french banking groups. although deposits have shifted from sight deposits into interest - bearing deposits and regulated savings accounts, total deposits have continued to increase slightly. [ see slide 7 ] presentation of the annual report of the au … image total deposits have continued to rise consequently, there can be no doubt : french banks can be, and are in a credit - provider mind - set. this holds true for housing loans : low figures for new housing loans are now due to demand, which remains on hold but should gradually pick up again with average lending rates back down below 4 %. loans to businesses - including smes - continue to register positive growth in terms of outstandings. i now turn to the third vertex of the triangle, which is currently more of a specific challenge for french banks, namely profitability. until 2022, their return on equity ratio ( roe ) was comparable to that of other european and international banks, but since then, a gap has opened up, with a stable ratio in france but cyclically - driven increases elsewhere in europe. [ slide 8 ] presentation of the annual report of the au … image roe : a stable situation for the main french banks... indeed, during the interest rate hikes of 2023, french banks faced a steeper increase in their interest expense than in their interest income due to the specific features of our business model : i. e. the weight of regulated savings in liabilities and the predominance of fixed - rate housing loans on the asset side of the balance sheet. consequently, their net banking income ( nbi ) declined by 3 % in 2023. elsewhere in europe, a higher proportion of variable - rate loans resulted in a faster increase in returns on assets. nevertheless, french banks ’ net profit has remained stable thanks to both a diversified business model that combines substantial amounts of fees and income from market activities, and a low cost of risk : fixed - rate housing loans contribute to this

is among the countries with the lowest share of young people – the corresponding figure was only one in seven ( 14. 2 % of the overall population ). the slide also shows that the share of people aged 14 or younger has been declining in all these advanced and emerging market economies since 1985. however, although this decline has been even stronger in the emerging market economies, these countries still have proportionately more young people. second, the share of the working age population in advanced economies has remained either broadly stable or has declined over the past 25 years, while it has risen substantially in emerging market economies ( chart 3 ). in brazil, for example, the share of the working age population rose by more than 8 percentage points between 1985 and 2008, while it declined by almost 1. 7 percentage points in italy. third, the populations of many industrialised countries have been ageing, while those of brazil, china and india have been getting younger. these diverse demographic developments – and the ageing of the population in particular – make it more difficult for many advanced economies to continue to grow and to remain competitive on world markets. the problem has been exacerbated over the past 25 years, not least because many advanced economies have not acted quickly enough to address the ageing problem and its detrimental impact on economic growth. but competition from emerging market economies has not waited. moreover, in many of these emerging economies, competitiveness has also been stimulated by investment in the technology sector. let me elaborate on this last point with the help of a few figures. … and on technological progress ten years ago the eu member states committed to transforming the eu by 2010 into “ the most competitive and dynamic knowledge - based economy in the world [ … ] ”, as emphasised in the lisbon strategy. in order to achieve this aim, an explicit target was introduced whereby each country was to spend at least 3 % of gdp on research and development ( r & d ) by the year 2010. the data clearly show that progress in this direction has in fact been very limited ( chart 4 ). among the largest four euro area countries, italy ranks the lowest, and its level of r & d intensity has increased marginally since 1996. 1 at the other end of the spectrum, china more than doubled its investment in r & d over the same period. the role of human capital together with r & d, the economy ’ s ability to innovate crucially depends on human capital. 2 human capital is a broad concept,