is crucial that banks transmit monetary policy stimuli – and this is partly dependent on their capital base. the fact that banks transmit monetary policy stimuli and issue loans is, incidentally, also crucial for exporting enterprises in germany. from the perspective of a banking supervisor, i must also note that it is above all the interestoriented business models that are increasingly coming under pressure in the low - interest rate environment. this affects precisely those banks that are supervised by bafin and the bundesbank – something borne out in a survey that we conducted among 1, 500 small and medium - sized banks and savings banks in germany. the most important finding is that, according to the banks ’ own projections, profitability is expected to decline by around 25 % by 2019. if, however, one assumes an even greater fall in interest rates and / or excludes the possibility of balance sheet adjustments, profitability could even fall by up to 75 %. the banks and banking supervisors need to examine how they are going to address this. one obvious solution is for banks to pass on the negative interest rates to depositors. however, the survey also reveals that, due to the intense competition, only a minority of institutions would consider introducing negative interest rates if the low - interest - rate environment persists. instead, the survey suggests that banks will try to expand their business areas that are less dependent on interest rates. this concerns, above all, the commissions business. many institutions have used the past few years to stock up their capital buffers, so they ’ ve “ fattened up for winter ”, as it were. this is shown, for example, by the fact that all institutions exceed the minimum capital requirements. many institutions will therefore be able to absorb future losses by liquidating reserves. nevertheless, it would be disastrous if banks attempted to ride the situation out, as reserves can soon be exhausted when profitability declines. this applies, in particular, if the economic situation were to deteriorate. this makes it especially important for banks to be profitable in the long term. to achieve this, they need to review their business models, get their balance sheets in order, harness any available scope for consolidation and examine digitalisation possibilities in order to cut costs. failing this, they may find it difficult during a protracted phase of low interest rates to retain profits with a view to further strengthening their capital base. the institutions must also examine their business models with regard to long - term sustainability. we, as supervisors, will

to the crisis. they have underpinned the rapid scaling up of support to vulnerable groups, by extending the reach of available social safety nets and providing new ways for mutual support within families and communities. in a few short months, covid - 19 has dramatically accelerated digitalization, achieving what we thought would take decades. in kenya, banks have enhanced the use of digital channels during the pandemic, to minimize the health risk and support stay - at - home protocols. before the pandemic, about 90 percent of bank transactions were conducted outside branches. since the onset of the pandemic, this has accelerated to over 94 percent of transactions. most notably, over 67 percent of transactions are now conducted on mobile phones, up from 55 percent before the pandemic. in rwanda, charges on all mobile money transactions were waived on march 19, 2020, for three months. by the end of april, the weekly value of mobile money transactions had increased by 450 percent. we are reminded of words by lenin, “ there are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. ” as we sketch the post - covid future, digitalization will be at the heart of everything we do, and turning back to today ’ s theme, sustainability will be indispensable for shared prosperity to be assured. sustainability can be usefully captured in the common “ 3ps ” definition : people, purpose and planet. the “ 3ps ” essentially respond to the question why corporations exist and what should be their heart and soul? covid - 19 has underscored a great truth — that corporations cannot prosper while the society they serve and the environment they operate in are endangered. simply put, the resilience of corporations is intertwined with the sustainability imperative. but is there a yardstick of success? the “ 3ps ” nexus is encapsulated in the united nations ’ sustainable development goals ( sdgs ), another core focus of this fintech week. as you are aware, the sdgs are global targets that were adopted by the un in 2015 aimed at achieving shared prosperity in a sustainable world by 2030. in the last few months, covid - 19 has adversely affected implementation of the sdgs particularly in health and education, wiping out years of progress towards the sdgs. a lot more needs to be done to get back on track. in november 2018, the unsg set up a task force on digital financing of the sdgs ( task