check against delivery esteemed colleagues, governors, it is my pleasure to be here today and to address this distinguished panel. before i start, let me just briefly thank our host governor matolcsy for his valuable insights. building on some of the points raised, i would like to give the broad topic of central bank cooperation a somewhat more specific twist. when talking about institutional cooperation, especially within such a diverse group of countries, we can indeed think of numerous possible layers for collaboration – from simple capacity building and information sharing to more complex aspects such as reserve management or bilateral swap lines. yet in my remarks i will focus particularly on an emerging issue that we are still only getting to know – that is innovative financial technologies, or fintech. i believe that this topic is of equal interest both in europe and china. let ’ s look at the numbers. in the first half of this year alone global investment in fintech companies hit 58 billion us dollars. in this regard, both europe and china are among the leading markets worldwide. even though i am representing the european side, i have to admit that in some domains – such as the level of fintech adoption by the population – china is way ahead of its european peers. while fintech is a rather new phenomenon in the central banking community, much has already been said and written on this topic. i am pretty sure that most of you are well aware of the pros and cons associated with financial innovations, so i will not go into details on this issue. yet let me just briefly mention some of the benefits and risks brought about by fintech that i find key. looking into the benefits side, fintech offers possibilities to boost economic growth by providing additional sources of credit, which is especially relevant for smes. in fact, it is estimated that by 2024 the global peerto - peer market will be worth nearly 900 billion us dollars, growing by roughly 50 % annually. i must say – quite an impressive trend, illustrating the scale of opportunities that alternative funding sources hold. financial innovations may also enhance financial inclusion. world bank data indicates that over 1, 7 bn people globally still do not enjoy access to the formal financial system. fintech solutions – such as mobile payments or crowdfunding platforms – can play a critical role in this regard, helping to ‘ democratize ’ access to finance and deepen our financial markets. on top, fintech creates instruments that may be used in enhancing the efficiency of financial sector regulation and oversight.

- and middle - income communities to a degree that has not been felt for many years. we have heard about companies, communities, and schools working together to help employees build skills — and of employers working creatively to structure jobs so that employees can do their jobs while coping with the demands of family and life beyond the workplace. we have heard that many people who in the past struggled to stay in the workforce are now working and adding new and better chapters to their lives. these stories show clearly in the job market data. employment gains have been broad based across all racial and ethnic groups and all levels of educational attainment as well as among people with disabilities ( figure 4 ). the strong labor market is also encouraging more people in their prime working years — ages 25 to 54 — to rejoin or remain in the labor force, meaning that they either have a job or are actively looking for one. this is a welcome development. for several decades up until the mid - 1990s, the share of prime - age people in the labor force rose, as an influx of women more than offset some decline in male participation. in the mid1990s, however, prime - age participation began to fall, and the drop - off became steeper in the great recession and the early years of the recovery ( figure 5 ). between 2007 and 2013, falling participation by both men and women contributed to a 2 percentage point overall decline. our falling participation rate stands out among advanced economies. while the united states was roughly in the middle of the pack among 32 economies as of 1995, in 2018 we ranked near the bottom ( figure 6 ). fortunately, in the strong job market since 2014, prime - age participation has been staging a comeback. so far, we have made - 8up more than half the loss in the great recession, which translates to almost 2 million more people in the labor force. but prime age participation could be still higher. income growth of low - and middle - income households has shown a pattern similar to that of participation, with two decades of disappointing news turning to better news during the past few years. according to census data, inflation - adjusted incomes for the lowest 20 percent of households declined slightly over the two decades through 2014, and income for the middle 20 percent rose only modestly. since then, incomes for these groups have risen more rapidly, as wage growth has picked up — and picked up most for the lower - paying jobs ( figure 7 ). recent years ’ data paint a hopeful picture