. first, those in the field of instant payments, which open a new chapter in the payments industry. second, the continuing development of open banking, thanks to the european financial sector ’ s work on apis. last but not least, the european payments initiative ( epi ) which will provide european citizens with a pan - european solution for everyday payments, via both a payment card and a smartphone, covering all retail use cases. with some major decisions scheduled to be taken this autumn for the actual launch of epi, i would like to remind you here that the banque de france fully supports this initiative, alongside the other eurosystem national central banks and the european commission. we are counting on you all, as participants in the financial ecosystem, to make this unique opportunity for european payments into a reality. c ) we are also actively supporting financial innovation by conducting an ambitious experimentation programme for a central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) several central banks have begun working seriously on the idea of issuing a cbdc, if it were to prove necessary, to preserve the anchoring role of central bank money in the digital era. this is a major issue given the trend towards the digitalisation of financial markets and payments, and the emergence of new, non - bank players in financial intermediation. at the banque de france, we are convinced of the benefits of taking an experimental approach to a cbdc : we are currently in the process of finalising our programme of experiments on an interbank or “ wholesale ” cbdc, to test whether and how it could improve the performance, speed, transparency and security of transactions between major financial players, especially for cross - border payments. in parallel, the banque de france is closely involved in the investigation phase for the retail digital euro, for use by the general public in everyday payments, and which the eurosystem decided to launch in july. to conclude, i would like to share with you this observation : to meet the challenge of transforming the financial sector digitally towards greater efficiency and stability, we feel it is vital to ensure that public and private initiatives complement each other and are properly coordinated, in order to support the innovation ecosystem and safeguard the stability of the financial system. it is in this spirit that we intend to continue developing our own initiatives. thank you for your attention. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

denis beau : the digitalisation of the financial sector - new challenges, new levers closing speech by mr denis beau, first deputy governor of the bank of france, at the 4th assises des technologies financieres, 30 september 2021. * * * ladies and gentlemen, i would first like to thank the president, eric woerth, for inviting me to close these 4th assises des technologies financieres, and to provide my insight, as a central banker and supervisor, into the challenges posed by the digitalisation of financial services. in the framework of our mission to safeguard monetary and financial stability, the main issue for the banque de france is how we can facilitate and accompany the digitalisation of the financial sector, which is a source of efficiency gains, while at the same time preserving the stability of our monetary and financial system. in order to present the concrete responses we are trying to bring to this issue, i shall start by reminding you of the new challenges posed by digitalisation to the safety and efficiency of the financial sector, before describing the three main areas where we are working to respond, in line with our mandate. i. the digitalisation of the financial sector poses new challenges a ) in terms of security, one of the main concerns raised by the current digital transformation of the financial system is it or cyber - risk. the digital transformation considerably increases financial system participants ’ surface area of exposure to cyber - threats, and hence their vulnerability to such risk. this stems in particular from their internal transformations, which rely in large part on the development of open - platform it systems and on greater use of it outsourcing, especially via the cloud. the public health crisis has significantly amplified this exposure : the widespread use of remote working has been accompanied by a massive roll - out of new collaboration tools and new software. this ( sometimes hasty ) deployment of third - party software and new methods of labour organisation has amplified the overall vulnerability of the sector. the need for vigilance is being even further heightened by the fact that cyberattacks are evolving constantly and becoming increasingly sophisticated. on a technical level, this phenomenon can in part be explained by the diffusion of “ turnkey ” hacking tools and a general increase in computer skills. on an economic level, the huge financial rewards to be gained from attacks is leading to a surge in the number of potential hackers. this dual trend has taken cyber - risk into a whole new dimension : at the company level, it represents a