spread between the u. s. and the german sovereign yields is slightly narrower than it was at the end of third quarter 2014, but it remains historically large and attractive for investors. 2 hold that thought. now, if you read page c3 of today ’ s wall street journal, specifically the article titled “ watchdog warns of risks in markets ” about the risks of a repeat of the bond market turmoil of october and concerns about market stability as seen through the eyes of the office of the fomc ’ s “ policy normalization principles and plans ” released on sept. 17 is available at www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / press / monetary / 20140917c. htm. over the past 15 years, the u. s. long rate has averaged about 40 basis points higher than the german long rate. since january 2013, the yield spread has widened by 110 basis points to about 1. 50 percent. over the same period, german 10 - year inflation expectations have dropped from 1. 9 percent to 1. 0 percent, or 90 basis points. u. s. 10 - year cpi inflation expectations have dropped from 2. 3 percent to 2. 2 percent – just 10 basis points. so it is worth noting that the drop in german inflation expectations relative to u. s. expectations can account for most of the widening of the yield spread between these two sovereigns. for investors who measure performance in terms of nominal returns or returns against nominal indexes, however, the currently widened spread is relatively attractive. bis central bankers ’ speeches financial research ( a bureaucracy of some 225 people and growing, created by the doddfrank law ), you would have noted the following sentences : “ a reduction in securities that are available to lend against in financial markets – such as treasury bonds and asset - backed securities – also is fueling... volatility. the securitization markets have shrunk since the financial crisis and the federal reserve has further reduced the amount of available securities by snapping up trillions of dollars in bonds in recent years. ” let me repeat that last clause : the federal reserve has further reduced the amount of available securities by snapping up trillions of dollars in bonds in recent years. to be precise, $ 1. 7 trillion of treasuries and asset - backed securities were purchased under qe3, on top of the $ 2 trillion purchased under the previous rounds of quantitative easing. to be sure, we have

francois villeroy de galhau : for a high speed and safe journey into the financial future speech by mr francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the bank of france, at the bank of france high - level conference on speed and innovation in financial markets and market infrastructures, paris, 28 january 2025. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to this high - level conference organised by the banque de france on speed and innovation, and how they could be disruptive for financial markets and market infrastructures. let me thank emmanuelle assouan and her teams for setting up this event. i would also like to extend my warm thanks to all participants from industry, public authorities and central banks who will give their views during three roundtables today, including my colleagues and friends andrea maechler, piero cipollone and naoto shimoda. it is a premiere for a banque de france conference to be held here at the cinematheque francaise, which is definitely an excellent venue for our theme of today : we are here in the place where speed is made art. as you know, cinema was invented in france by the lumiere brothers in the late 19th century. during the projection in 1896 of one of their very first movies, the arrival of a train at la ciotat station, the audience was so overwhelmed by the moving image of a train coming directly at them that people ran away. but we do not fear speed anymore, on the contrary : it has become a key success factor in financial markets and market infrastructures, yielding high benefits. transactions and their settlement have already become dramatically swifter over the last decades – notably in france, which was at the forefront in dematerialising securities – and will continue gathering speed. i will first elaborate on the reasons why, in a fast - moving environment, resilience must be preserved in order to ensure financial stability ( i ). our public - private partnership has to evolve, with a view to enhancing crossborder payments and the holistic project of creating a shared ledger ( ii ). i. a fast - moving financial system whose resilience must be preserved in order to ensure financial stability markets are undergoing structural changes, all driven by increased speed aimed at achieving higher efficiency. automation and high - frequency trading are driving a rise in daily trading volumes ; new participants have emerged, and incumbents have evolved. nowadays, robots and algorithms are unlock