ivan iskrov : bulgarian national bank – independence, predictability and transparency speech by mr ivan iskrov, governor of the bulgarian national bank, before the 41st national assembly of the republic of bulgaria on the occasion of his election for a second term of office, sofia, 26 august 2009. * * * ms. speaker, ladies and gentlemen mps, allow me first and foremost to thank you for the enormous trust and the strong support you just now gave to the central bank and its governor, ivan iskrov. i don ’ t know of any head of any public institution that has so far enjoyed such a vast parliamentary vote of confidence with the support of 195 mps. this result exceeds the 165 votes in support of my nomination in the previous 40th national assembly. when a week ago i shared with the person closest to me that i had decided to use the parliamentary case of mr. nenovsky to submit myself to a confidence vote by the 41st national assembly, i heard the following : “ isn't this step rather too risky, besides the prime minister publicly announced that he did not approve of the procedure but he respects the bnb as an institution, and highly values you as a governor and wishes you to continue on the post? " i replied that no one could predict the possible deliberations and how the 240 mps would vote, but that i was nonetheless obliged to ask for their confidence. or else on 9th october this year i leave! because, ladies and gentlemen, as i have repeatedly shared with my colleagues at the bank, when requiring the tasks to be performed with 100 % precision, rather than in a slapdash manner, we in the central bank have an asset even more valuable than its international reserves. this key asset is the reputation of the bnb and of each of its employees. i promised to your colleagues of the 39th national assembly that i would never take part in fruitless discussions, neither would i refute any possible silly allegations of dishonourable people or of unqualified “ know - it - all ” experts. the people around me, however, know how painful it was for me to bear any stupidity or slander, not for my own credibility but for the confidence the bulgarian society should have in our national bank. the bnb is de jure and de facto the most independent public institution ; it owes its independence to you – the elected representatives of the people, and reports only and solely to you, to the bulgarian national assembly. therefore i felt

nina stoyanova : opening of “ fintech summit ” conference statement by ms nina stoyanova, deputy governor and head of the banking department of the bulgarian national bank, at the opening of the “ fintech summit ” conference, organised by capital newspaper, video conference, 30 march 2021. * * * i would like to welcome you to the annual fintech summit organised by capital weekly. until a few years ago the term ‘ fintech ’ was mainly associated with small innovative companies that by using digital technologies were trying to redefine the provision of financial services and find their own place on the market. today and even more after the watershed year of 2020, we can assert that technologies and innovations have become an intrinsic feature of the financial sector and a trigger for its rapid developing. recent trends show expanding cooperation and technical exchange between banks and fintech companies, which is to the benefit of clients, and results in better, faster and more secure services. the coronavirus crisis and expected recovery act as an impetus for further modernisation and digitalisation in response to consumers ’ demand and changes in society. in this context, the ambitions for accelerated reforms were also confirmed by the european commission in the ‘ eu digital finance strategy ’ and the ‘ eu retail payments strategy ’ published in september 2020. almost half a year after their launch, we can already note the first concrete steps in the implementation of the goals set in these strategies. first and foremost, i would like to focus on instant payments introduced in response to the dynamic development of communications, digital services and e - commerce. instant payments outline the forthcoming changes in payment infrastructure both in the eu and in the country. their advantage is the possibility for synchronisation between dispatching of goods and receipt of payment. transferred funds are immediately available, which enhances the security and trust in business relations and in the payment process. in the eu retail payments strategy, instant payments are called ‘ the new normal ’. the commission aims at full uptake of instant payments in the eu by the end of 2021. in bulgaria the project of instant payments in the national currency ( bgn ) is already at an advanced stage. it has been developed by the bisera6 retail payment system operatorborica ad with the assistance of the bnb as the operator of the national rtgs system rings. recently, the necessary amendments have been made to the legal framework and the payment systems. technical and functional changes were implemented in the bnb - operated rings system that ensure a possibility