report on “ the digital dividend ”. digital technologies and innovations have undoubtedly helped improve growth and services supply by substantially reducing the costs of economic and financial transactions, but the aggregate impact is still limited and unevenly distributed. ladies and gentlemen, i think that we all agree that one of the areas where technological innovation is growing rapidly is the financial sector, with a new term being even dedicated to it, the fintech. the latter is revolutionizing the financial landscape, by expanding products and services, improving their quality, and making them more accessible and less expensive. fintech is transforming the relation with customers, the means of payment, as well as the modes of financing and transfers. on this particular last point, the potential gains are enormous for developing countries receiving large flows of their nationals abroad. in 2018, according to the world bank, these transfers may have totaled 689 billion dollars, more than three - quarters of which were intended to developing countries. traditional business models of banks are now challenged by the new financing methods, thus putting more pressure on their profitability and pushing them, in some cases, to greater risk - taking, which would eventually impact financial stability. in emerging and developing countries, with internet and mobile telecommunications penetration, fintech now offers tremendous opportunities to strengthen financial inclusion and economic and social development. according to a statement issued last november by the united nations secretary general, within a period of six years, 1. 2 billion people have accessed financial services through technology. in a report issued in 2016, the mckinsey institute estimated the potential of fintech in emerging economies by 2025 to an additional 6 percent of gdp, i. e. 3. 7 trillion dollars, and 95 million new jobs. the same report also revealed that two billion people and 200 million of very small, small and medium enterprises in emerging countries do not have access to credit, while those who have are still facing high costs. here again, estimates vary from one study to the other, and all agree on the same finding : a huge potential is still there to exploit. this being said, risks in the financial sector are the most varied and most important, especially in terms of money laundering, financing terrorism, cyber security, as well as protecting customers and personal data. such risks have become major concerns both at the national and international level. for us, central banks in particular, the changes brought by the fintech challenge us in several aspects, namely in our core functions. now, even the monopoly of issuing currency

africa meeting of the econometric society introductory speech of mr. abdellatif jouahri governor of bank al - maghrib rabat, july 11 2019 honorable guests, distinguished researchers and professors, dear friends and colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, i would like to assure you that i will not venture giving a lecture in front of such an audience. i am here today more to listen. that being said, i would like to start by expressing how pleased i am to welcome you in bank al - maghrib and to wish our visitors from abroad a wonderful stay in morocco. i would also like to thank all officials for joining us, the distinguished researchers for kindly accepting to speak at the plenary sessions and the mostly - young researchers for coming from different spheres to present their works. i also extend my warmest thanks to econometric society which approached us to organize this conference, thus paving the way for a valuable cooperation between both teams. we view this meeting as an opportunity for us as a central bank, as well as for all the national institutions here represented today, to inquire about the progress made in economics research, namely with regard to quantitative economics. it is also an opportunity to strengthen the bonds with the academia and initiate new cooperation relationships. among all the scientific meetings that we have organized so far, this event holds a particular importance, in view of the strong participation of african researchers and of its focus on the economic issues of the continent. for several years now, morocco has been committed to a policy of openness to africa to further reinforce their ties, already strong by history, geography and culture, and to promote a win - win co - development in all fields. as a central bank, our contribution lies in accompanying the banking system in its expansion and in maintaining a broad cooperation with several similar institutions of the continent. today, we are pleased to pursue this contribution for the benefit of research. ladies and gentlemen, africa, as we know, performs poorly in the field of research. the continent, now home to nearly 17 percent of the world's population and more than one quarter by 2050, produces only 5 percent of the wealth, measured by the purchasing power parity, and contributes to the world ’ s scientific publications by no more than 2. 6 percent, according to the latest unesco science report published in 2015. in morocco, we are well aware that developing human capital and research is not an easy task. despite the strong will and