point is to say that today ’ s discussion showed that central banks need to further their exploration of new technologies to prepare for the future of finance. this is the goal that banque de france has been pursuing since the launch of its first experiments on wholesale cbdc in 2020. we are now taking this endeavour a step further with a second round of experiments. let me stress that it is a collective work, whose conclusions will feed the eurosystem ’ s reflection on cbdc. • the entry into force of the european " pilot regime " next year offers an invaluable opportunity for private players but also for public players. in this sense, offering settlement solutions in central bank money - for the cash leg of transactions involving tokenised securities - could allow tokenised finance to benefit from the most secure and liquid asset. • thank you again for your participation. page 3 / 3

, which means that banks across the euro area do not rely, to the same extent, on the network of central banks to intermediate their operations. we have now completed with success and credibility the first asset quality review in our banking system, and the new single supervisory mechanism has been made operational last week. those measures will be essential in restoring a well functioning credit channel and eliminating the remaining differences in financial conditions across the eurozone. let me now come to the second point : the equilibrium interest rate and why it matters for monetary policy. the concept is familiar to economists since the great knut wicksell. the “ natural ” or equilibrium interest rate is expressed in real terms. it equals savings and investment at full employment and price stability. it provides a central guidepost for assessing the monetary stance. for instance, if the market rate is above the equilibrium rate, there is excess saving, as well as insufficient consumption and investment. as a consequence, inflation falls. the equilibrium interest rate is not stable. it has fallen significantly since the financial crisis, possibly to negative levels. to maintain price stability and avoid persistently low inflation, market rates must be reduced as well. in normal circumstances, this can be achieved by lowering the policy rate, with subsequent effects on the yield curve. however, when the bis central bankers ’ speeches policy rates get to zero – the so - called zero lower bound – this “ conventional ” approach to monetary policy is not available anymore. to avoid an involuntary tightening of monetary policy, central banks must resort to unconventional measures. as i will describe in a moment, a wide array of such unconventional tools have been deployed in the euro area. low equilibrium interest rates can be temporary or permanent. in truth, we don ’ t really know. we do know, however, that very low inflation, if allowed to persist, can only aggravate the situation, because, everything else being equal, low inflation increases the real interest rate. in turn, higher real interest rates tend to depress economic activity and bring even lower inflation. this is the kind of spiral, possibly leading to deflation that monetary policy must seek to control and avoid. the process may become even more self - sustaining if it negatively affects inflation expectations. over the last months, inflation expectations in the euro area have dropped to 1. 2 % at a one - year horizon and 1. 5 % at a two - year horizon. more worrisome, long - term expectations – up to now extremely well - anchored