the sumerians of mesopotamia about 5, 000 years ago and can be seen as our first example of the interaction between the evolution in finance and ict. scholars believe that the genesis of cuneiform writing is to be found in accounting. 1 three - dimensional tokens whose shapes - - cones and spheres - - represented a specific amount of goods were used for trade. the tokens then developed into two - dimensional clay tablets with pictographs. as the size of cities grew and society became more complicated, the clay tablets experienced a significant innovation. they incorporated an abstract number system, which allowed significant abstraction of data that could be communicated using the same size of tablets. it is probable that writing was further developed by the emerging need for debt contracts. evolution in finance and ict closely interacted in sumerian cities. our next example, the invention of the printing press in the 15 th century by johannes gutenberg, had a long - lasting effect in promoting the interaction between the evolution in finance and ict on a global scale. one major impact of the new printing process was to diffuse knowledge in finance. for example, in venice in 1494, mathematician luca pacioli, a friend of leonardo da vinci, published a book which included short yet comprehensive instruction on the principle of double - entry bookkeeping. from venice, then the world's printing center, pacioli's instruction, its commentaries, and applied examples disseminated one of the most fundamental principles in finance throughout europe and the world. and what about other major impacts of the new printing process on economic growth? did the diffusion of the printing press have significant impact on aggregate productivity? in general, measuring the impact of ict on aggregate productivity is a challenging task for for details, see denise schmandt - besserat, how writing came about ( austin : university of texas press, 1996 ). economists and policymakers as robert solow wrote of a later time, " you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics. " 2 but recently, lse economist jeremiah dittmar has provided evidence showing how the printing press did indeed contribute to productivity in certain cities. 3 he has shown that cities where printing presses were established in the 15th century experienced an accelerated economic growth. and it was in the netherlands that cities adopted the printing press faster than in most other countries and these dutch cities went on to accumulate great wealth. this wealth was a necessary underpinning for exploration to asia. but exploration also required wider

june 6, 2019 bank of japan how finance and ict combine : a historical view on the future keynote speech at the institute of international finance ( iif ) spring membership meeting haruhiko kuroda governor of the bank of japan i. introduction good afternoon. it is a great pleasure to welcome you all. let me thank chairman weber, president adams and the iif team for organizing this conference. looking back, the first iif g20 conference was convened in london in early march 2009, when the global financial system remained under severe stress. one topic discussed at the conference was the role of the international financial institutions, including the asian development bank i was leading at that time, in mobilizing liquidity for emerging market and developing countries. a month later, when the g20 leaders met in london and agreed to strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust, they also agreed to increase very substantially the resources and enhance the tools available through these institutions to support the continued flow of capital to these countries. that agreement was proved to be vital in fighting the crisis. with the assistance of the institutions, emerging market and developing countries were largely successful in avoiding the contagion of the crisis and their strong growth supported world growth. following the tradition of the first and of subsequent conferences, i hope that this conference will also provide additional impetus for cooperation in order to pursue our g20 agenda. reflecting the upcoming g20 agenda, tomorrow's morning sessions will focus on the future of finance and the role of financial regulation and supervision against the backdrop of the rapid evolution in information and communications technology ( ict ). today, i would like to share my thoughts on this topic. throughout history, finance and ict have interacted and evolved closely together. also throughout history, people have found ways to overcome the resultant challenges and have realized the opportunities. i believe we are at that point of challenge and opportunity now. let me start by looking back at some key historical episodes because i think they are telling. ii. historical episodes of the interaction between finance and ict finance enables money to travel from one person's pocket to another's across time and space. it reallocates resource, diversifies risk, and provides means for settlement. throughout history, people have developed financial technologies to make use of the state of the art icts available at that time, in pursuit of defying the gravity that constrains the dynamic and cooperative use of available resources. the earliest writing system known as cuneiform script was invented by