this is equally true for physical and electronic payments. in my previous role as chief cashier, i led our work to issue banknotes printed on polymer. we harnessed innovative technology both in the security features selected, and in introducing a tactile feature on the new £10 polymer banknote to help blind and vision impaired people identify our notes. this meant we exploited technology to produce banknotes which are not only secure, but inclusive. and now we are assessing how we can embrace diverse technologies through rtgs renewal. although the bank has concluded that distributed ledger technology ( dlt ) is not yet sufficiently mature to provide the core for the next generation of rtgs, we still place a high priority on ensuring the new service is capable of interfacing with dlt. in summer 2018 we ran a proof of concept12 with four firms to develop payment arrangements using innovative technologies. importantly, the results demonstrated that participants using such technologies could connect to and settle in rtgs. this has informed our thinking on how rtgs could support settlement in a more diverse range of systems, and provided broader insight into the range of functionality the bank might need to offer to support this sector. we are also seeking to develop a renewed service that will be message network agnostic : capable of sending and receiving payment messages from multiple sources and interfacing with multiple messaging networks without compromising on levels of security or proof. and we will continue to support the resilience of the renewed rtgs by diversifying operations across two sites with a third stand - by settlement platform which is geographically remote. as i stressed at the start, the bank needs to reflect the diversity of the people it serves and so increasing the diversity of the bank ’ s workforce is at the top of our agenda. we have set ourselves stretching but https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / - / media / boe / files / payments / rtgs - renewal - proof - of - concept. pdf all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches achievable targets in respect of increasing the representation of women and bame colleagues at all levels of the business. 13 and we have implemented a wide range of initiatives designed to improve diversity in our recruitment, development and retention of talent across a range of protected characteristics. as a member of the bank ’ s senior leadership team, i have personal accountability for delivering a step change in the bank ’ s diversity. this is

henrique meirelles : regulation and international standards in brazil, the us, the eu and switzerland speech by mr henrique meirelles, governor of the central bank of brazil, at the first international conference on law & economics, ibmec sao paulo, in cooperation with the foundation for law and economics at the university st gallen, switzerland, held in sao paulo, 2 april 2009. * * * the world is experiencing the most severe economic and financial crisis in 80 years. what started as a deleveraging process in the us banking system has extended to a strong downturn not only in advanced economies, but also in the emerging world. it is emblematic that we are here today in sao paulo discussing regulation at a time the issue is also being discussed at the meeting of heads of states of the g - 20 in london. much of the focus of the meeting relates to the redesign of the international financial system and its regulation, including possibly the outline of a sort of international financial regulator. the current financial turmoil is ultimately a result of the failure of regulators, supervisors and policymakers in the advanced economies to prevent excessive risk - taking and leverage and to account for the interplay between regulated and non - regulated markets, partly due to their fragmented regulatory frameworks, partly due to legal restrictions on information and data sharing. lax regulatory standards, coupled with poor risk management practices, deleterious incentives for risk - taking and deficient corporate governance structures in financial institutions are costing the global economy a high price. throughout the years, brazil has adopted more cautious and broader regulatory standards than the international norm. just to mention a few examples of what i am referring to, there are twenty - one different types of financial institutions under the regulation and supervision of the central bank, from universal banks to credit unions, all sharing common prudential and leverage rules. furthermore, not only capital requirements are higher in brazil than the basel recommendation but also all capital requirements and controls are applied on a consolidated basis that includes non - financial subsidiaries in a banking group, so that most institutions are consolidated for supervision purposes. finally, accounting standards adopted in brazil require that all operations be kept on balance, with the respective risk requirements and provisions. risk management and internal controls regulations, as well as prudential loan loss provisioning requirements and large exposure limits have been in force for many years in brazil. additionally, having learned from past experience of international integration and fast contagion, the central bank makes careful evaluation of financial innovations and