. many of these companies are represented here today. millions of european citizens use your payment services daily. you are quick to adopt new technologies and offer modern payment solutions like mobile wallets, online peer - to - peer payments, smart and relatively cheap currency conversion and instant transfers. also as a result of your competitive strength, banks too improved the quality and efficiency of their online payment services to customers. of course, markets can only be truly fair and competitive if there is a level playing field. that's why we at the dutch central bank strive towards applying the well - known principle of " same activity, same risk, same rule " across the payment sector. as the 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches most recent step in creating a level playing field in the eu's payment market, the eurosystem will allow regulated non - banks to access central bank operated payment systems such as t2 and tips. in short, at the dutch central bank we appreciate the important role of epif members in the payments market. and we appreciate the active role epif plays in european payment forums like the euro retail payment board. but things can also get too flashy and innovative, so it was a wise decision by epif to invite someone from a central bank to balance things out. and being the dinosaur in the room, maybe i'm the right guy to address the elephant in the room. because there is an elephant here, and it's called strategic autonomy. over the past years, the world has changed dramatically. rivalry between the big economic blocs has increased. and there is a major war raging on the european continent that has heightened international political tensions. geopolitical tensions that translate into economic fragmentation and protectionism. of all the major economies, europe is the most exposed to these shifts. remember our dependence on russian gas at the outbreak of the war in ukraine. likewise, we import over 80 % of our digital technology. personally i find navigation an impressive example. all the navigation equipment in europe uses gps infrastructure which is run by the us army. without gps, google maps or the navigation in your car is completely useless. there are many more examples where europe is heavily dependent on the policies of other countries for the provision of strategic goods and services. in the current political climate, it is understandable that european governments see this dependence as a strategic vulnerability that needs addressing. that's why strategic autonomy is a priority for the european commission. it also featured prominently in the speech

institutions'profits under the low interest rate environment, which in turn may adversely affect the functioning of financial intermediation. having said that, the bank judges that, currently in japan, financial institutions have sufficient capital bases and the financial intermediation function is being fulfilled smoothly. in addition, as the liquidity and functioning of bond markets have been deteriorating, the bank, while taking measures to contain this side effect, has continued with its monetary easing. specifically, in march 2021, the bank conducted an assessment of the measures taken until then in order to continue with monetary easing in a sustainable manner. the bank had previously been conducting yield curve control in a way that kept 10 - year japanese government bond ( jgb ) yields at around 0 percent ; following the assessment, however, it made clear that the range of 10 - year jgb yield fluctuations would be between around plus and minus 0. 25 percentage points from the target level. the bank also decided to purchase exchange - traded funds ( etfs ) and japan real estate investment trusts ( j - reits ) flexibly in a prioritized manner, as the findings of the assessment suggested that large - scale purchases of these instruments were effective during times of heightened market instability. subsequently, at the december 2022 mpm, the bank decided that, while significantly increasing the amount of jgb purchases, it would expand the range of 10 - year jgb yield fluctuations from the target level from between around plus and minus 0. 25 percentage points to between around plus and minus 0. 5 percentage points. the bank also decided that it would make nimble responses by increasing the amount of jgb purchases even more and conducting fixed - rate purchase operations ( chart 13 ). these decisions were made in order to facilitate the transmission of monetary easing effects generated under the framework of yield curve control - - such as through corporate financing - - by encouraging a smoother formation of the entire yield curve. while 10 - year jgb yields had been hovering in the range of around plus and minus 0. 25 percentage points from the target level, a distortion has occurred in the relative relationships between the interest rates of jgbs with 10 - year maturity and those with other maturities. a large price gap has also been observed between spot and futures markets. such market distortions have resulted in, for example, difficulty in the pricing of corporate bonds at the time of issuance. if these market conditions persist, this could have a negative impact on firms'financing environment,