of a stock market crash for example, if they are open - ended and have no system of gates. to achieve this, we need to develop, jointly and at a global level, a harmonised framework for systemic stress tests : the fsb already recommended such tools in 2017, but there is a real risk that they will remain in the exploratory phase, and that no action will be taken at the level of the financial system. the third and last priority is to regulate. following the finalisation of the basel iii reform in december 2017, the main focus for financial regulation is no longer bank solvency, but non - bank liquidity. we nonetheless need to avoid making two mistakes. the first would be to favour one sector over another, be it banks or shadow banking : the existence of opportunities for regulatory arbitrage could to lead to the transfer of capital - intensive activities to less regulated, or even unregulated entities, which would be counterproductive. the other mistake would be to impose banking regulation on shadow banking, as the risks are not the same ; in particular, the same 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches capital requirements cannot be applied. at the global level, the non - bank sector needs to be provided with microprudential and macroprudential regulations that are tailored to its particular business model and risks. with regard to macroprudential regulation, france is a pioneer in this field with its decision to introduce, as of 1 july this year, a measure regarding large enterprises that also takes into account their market debt. we shall publish details on how it will work this week. but we need to be honest with ourselves and admit that our experience of using macroprudential tools outside the bank sector is still very limited. one of our priorities in terms of regulation should also be to develop liquidity management tools for investment funds, and to refine the measurement of their leverage, two issues that, fortunately, the fsb has already identified. it is also important that we increase the transparency of shadow banking activities. in this respect, the entry into force of the european regulations emir2 and sftr should be a considerable step forward. as i ’ ve been talking about macroprudential measures regarding large corporations, and our subject is financial stability, i ’ d like to bring you up to date on bank lending in france : lending to the private sector – to households and businesses – is growing rapidly in france, at a rate of close

the opportunity, in a speech last thursday at the university of paris - dauphine, to discuss in detail the causes of low rates and their effects. they are undoubtedly positive for the french economy as a whole : more than two percentage points of additional growth over four years, thus contributing significantly to the one million net jobs created in france since 2016. however, just as accommodative monetary policy benefits economic players – households, companies and governments alike – its persistence weighs on the profitability of financial players, requiring them to make efforts to adapt. i would like to praise the quality and soundness of our financial institutions, which are among the best in europe and have made considerable strides in recent years. the first part of this adaptation naturally falls to you, through your digitalisation and operational efficiency strategies. but part of it is up to us. for banks, the tiering mechanism adopted last september reduces the cost of negative interest rates by nearly eur 4 billion for european banks, of which around eur 800 million for french institutions. these figures are significant enough to be worth quoting, feel free to do so as well. as regards insurers, two points should be stressed. first, the return on non - unit linked life insurance products needs to further decline. second, the measures taken at the end of last year regarding the profit - sharing reserve. this reserve, which belongs and will continue to belong to policyholders, can henceforth be taken into account in the calculation of insurers ’ solvency ratio. i supported the adoption of this measure because it brings french practices into line with that of the other countries concerned, in particular germany. however, it will never be able to compensate for insufficient solvency. adapting to the low interest rate environment also requires increased vigilance with regard to the quality and pricing of loans. this is the role of the haut conseil de stabilite financiere ( hcsf – high council for financial stability ), chaired by bruno le maire ; last december we issued a recommendation on the maturity of mortgage loans and associated debt burden. it applies to all new loans issued since january. this means, in short, no more excesses, and a rapid change in behaviour. otherwise, we might see a capital surcharge for non - compliant loans, although that is not part of my wishes. i also call on banks to better monitor their pricing practices : margins must be sufficient to cover the costs and risks associated with