improve biometrics authentication and cryptography technologies. some people argue that humans will eventually have nothing to do if information technologies advance so far and if computers and ai become more capable, but i am skeptical of such a pessimistic view. the invention of the automobile and airplane substantially reduced the demand for horse - drawn coaches and sailing ships. nonetheless, if we look at society as a whole, those new technologies clearly have enabled human beings to make more use of their abilities. today, we have this wonderful forum, connecting france and japan and with many people attending from around the world. without technological innovation, we could never imagine holding such an event. furthermore, i think it is very unlikely that financial innovation will take over the roles of humans. to reiterate, finance is a sophisticated bundle of information processing : it creates linkages between various entities such as between lender and borrower, and between payer and payee. through such activities, finance enables people to allocate their limited resources to projects with higher productivity and growth potential. thinking about this nature of finance, i believe that financial innovation will create an environment where everyone can share their creativity with others, thus contributing to economic development, as long as innovation really enhances the efficiency of financial services. for example, if fintech enables people in developing countries to access financial services, it would also help those people to use e - commerce and e - learning. this would increase opportunities for people wanting to raise their living standard and receive education. moreover, if new information technology and fintech help channel financial support to new ideas, it will help new businesses incorporating new ideas to develop. through such activities, financial innovation and fintech will eventually contribute to economic growth. initiatives at the bank of japan in view of such potential of financial innovation, the bank of japan established its " fintech center " on april 1, aiming to facilitate the development of fintech. the bank has also built up its " fintech network " comprising a wide range of staff drawn from the relevant departments of the bank. this fintech network promotes the sharing of information and expertise related to fintech in a cross - sectoral manner. meanwhile, private entities are now testing the application of dlt, which is a technology that symbolizes fintech. in order for central banks to fulfill their responsibilities such as ensuring the stability of payments and settlements, it is becoming increasingly important to have a profound understanding of new technologies including dlt. accordingly, the staff in

and to address the risks of financial fragmentation along national lines, thereby ensuring that monetary policy decisions are transmitted more effectively. address by governor ordinary general meeting of shareholders banca d ’ italia the expansionary monetary policy of the eurosystem and the bank of italy ’ s balance sheet in 2019 the monetary policy of the eurosystem remained expansionary in order to counter the downside risks to inflation stemming from the weakening economic outlook. in its september meeting, the ecb ’ s governing council lowered the deposit facility rate by ten basis points, bringing it to - 0. 50 per cent ; at the same time it introduced a two - tier system for reserve remuneration, in which part of banks ’ reserve holdings in excess of the minimum requirements are exempt from the negative deposit facility rate and remunerated at a rate of 0. 0 per cent. also in september, a new series of targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltro iii ) was introduced, each with a maturity of three years, to be conducted on a quarterly basis. initially equal to the average rate on the main refinancing operations over the life of each targeted operation ( currently set at zero per cent ), the interest rate can be as low as the average rate on the deposit facility, depending on the volume of net lending by banks. since november, net purchases of public - and private - sector securities have resumed at a monthly pace of €20 billion ; this will continue for as long as necessary to strengthen the accommodative impact of the policy rates in tandem with the ecb ’ s explicit objective of ending the purchases shortly before it starts raising its key policy rates. these purchases are in addition to the full reinvestment of the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the programme ; this too will continue for as long as necessary to maintain favourable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation. to mitigate the impact of the ongoing pandemic, in its meeting of 12 march, the governing council adopted a broad package of measures. to support bank lending to those most financially affected by the spread of covid - 19 – particularly small and medium - sized enterprises – from june 2020 to june 2021 the conditions applied to tltro iii will be considerably more favourable. both the initial rate and the ( lower ) rate actually applied to counterparties based on the achievement of lending targets have been lowered by 25 basis points and the targets ’ attainment has also been facilitated. the