my view, the cmu project is an important step forward to reach the goal of correcting some structural deficiencies of the eu capital markets in terms of their relative underdevelopment and fragmentation. cmu action plan was launched in 2015 by the european commission by setting out a list of over 30 actions and related measures to establish the building blocks of an integrated capital market in the european union by 2019. so far the implementation of these measures has been slow. in any event, in recent years the role of european capital markets as a source of funding for firms has increased. for example, the ratio of financing through fixed - income securities to total debt financing has grown from 8 % in 2007 to 12 % in 2017. a similar trend has also been observed in other advanced economies including the united states. understanding the driving forces of this trend is important in order to assess its main implications. some factors are possibly of a transitory nature. among these factors are the post - crisis monetary policies and their implementation. in particular, the introduction in mid2016 of the corporate sector purchase programme ( cspp ) as part of the ecb asset purchase programme, has contributed to lower the cost of firms ’ financing through the issuance of fixed - income securities relative to the cost of bank funding, thus encouraging see bentolila, s., jansen, m., and jimenez, g. ( 2017 ) " when credit dries up : job losses in the great recession ", journal of the european economic association, 16, 650 – 695, and martinez - pages, j. ( 2014 ) “ impact of restructuring plans on lending to non - financial corporations ” economic bulletin banco de espana, july – august 2014. see special feature a “ financial integration and risk sharing in a monetary union ”, in financial integration in europe, ecb, april 2016 and box 1 “ what could enhance private financial risk sharing in the euro area? ” in financial integration in europe, ecb, may 2018. see also asdrubali, p., sorensen, b. and yosha, o., ( 1996 ) “ channels of interstate risk sharing : united states 1963 - 1990 ”, quarterly journal of economics, 111, 1081 - 1110 ; athanasoulis, s. and van wincoop, e. ( 2001 ) “ risk sharing within the united states : what do financial markets and fiscal federalism accomplish? ”, review of economics and statistics, 83, 68

arce, o., gimeno, r., and mayordomo, s. ( 2017 ) “ making room for the needy : the effects of the eurosystem ’ s corporate sector purchase programme ”, banco de espana working paper no. 1743. see aiyar, s., calomiris, c. w., and wieladek, t. ( 2016 ) “ how does credit supply respond to monetary policy and bank minimum capital requirements? ”, european economic review, 82, 142 - 165, fraisse, h., le, m., and thesmar, d. “ the real effects of bank capital requirements ”, hec paris research paper no. fin - 2013 - 988, de jonghe, o., dewachter. h.. and ongena, s. ( 2016 ) “ bank capital ( requirements ) and credit supply : evidence from pillar 2 decisions ”, national bank of belgium no 303. for detailed evidence on how p2p platforms compete with banks, see de roure, c., pelizzon, l., and thakor, a. “ p2p lenders versus banks : cream skimming or bottom fishing? ”, safe working paper no. 206. 5 / 6 benefits for the society, including a greater financial inclusion by reducing intermediation costs, which would improve the access to funding of households and smes. in any case, at this stage, the ultimate impact of new technologies on the structure of the financial system is highly uncertain as it will depend on different factors including the regulatory treatment of the new players. 10 today´s conference will cover all these issues related to the recent changes in the structure of financial markets and their implications for the banking system. we have the privilege to have as speakers experts in those areas from academia, policy makers, think tanks and the banking industry. i am sure that we will have a very productive debate and that we will improve our understanding of these issues. finally, allow me to express once again my gratitude to the co - organizers of this event for making the conference possible, and to wish all the participants a very fruitful meeting and a pleasant stay in madrid. and without further due, let me now introduce our first speaker, governor philip lane. it is a special honor for us to have him here today. he is especially suited to be our first keynote speaker in this event because he has a profound knowledge of economy and finance