: its goal is to bring new practices and technologies into our activities, and to that end experiment where necessary within short and flexible cycles. to do so, it works in close collaboration with innovative firms. an example of this work is to use artificial intelligence to improve our scoring of businesses. scoring is something that banque de france has been doing for a very long time : its branch network all over france gives quotations of companies based on analysis of financial data but also on - site visits ( more than 250. 000 last year ). these quotations are then provided to banks and other institutions, in order to facilitate access to financing and therefore financial inclusion for many smes. this is why we are working, in collaboration with start - ups, on how to improve our data analysis and include learning algorithms in our scoring process. of course, this is not easy – the integration in existing processes is complex, in particular the role of expert judgment. and we are 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches also part of a larger experiment led by the french government called “ signaux faibles ” ( low signals ). it aims at bringing together data from various french public authorities and developing ai analysis capacity to identify businesses showing signs of vulnerability, in order to better target public support towards them. a second way is by revisiting some of our policies and adapting them. a good candidate could for instance be our policy to support fair access to payment instruments : banque de france is committed to ensure the availability in our jurisdiction of a range of payment instruments suited the needs of all users. the development of electronic payments based on innovative technologies lays the foundation for a smoother and safer payment experience. but this should not exclude part of the population. up to now, a large part of financial inclusion has also been about making access to cash easier for those who don ’ t have a credit or debit card, and ensuring the acceptance and availability of banknotes has therefore been an important dimension of our retail payment policy. but changes in payment solutions supply and changes in payment habits in favour of electronic payments may make this policy more difficult and costly to maintain going forward. one possibility often mentioned would be for the issuance of a central bank digital currency accessible to the general public. at this stage, in many developed economies and certainly in europe, the business case for this kind of innovation does not appear to me such that it should be a short - term priority. the priority should rather be to facilitate cross - border payments

. the case is for me more compelling for a central bank digital currency at the wholesale level, for use between financial intermediaries, given the potential for a quick and widespread tokenization of financial assets. we, at the banque de france, are therefore quite open for experimenting, together with the ecb and other central banks of the eurosystem, in particular with regard to a wholesale central bank digital currency. finally, a third area for change is our contribution to the prevention of inequalities of treatment. with the emergence of new forms of inequalities associated to the digital age, there is a central role for supervisors to be further developed here. i mentioned ai earlier and the risk of it becoming a “ black box ”. it is therefore essential that ai algorithms remain explainable and with adequate governance – to justify why and how a financial decision has been taken, and make sure that no combination of variables will serve as a proxy for a model based on a discriminatory approach. and this is what acpr is currently doing by experimenting with voluntary financial firms on specific use cases of their ai algorithms. in terms of market conduct, we also need to make sure that our supervisory priorities are adequate to the challenges raised for all those who may be on the wrong side of the “ digital divide ”. for example, i ’ ve mentioned our current focus on older customers. seniors are of course more and more at ease with digital tools and this will be increasingly true as more generations are digital “ natives ”. but we need to make sure that digital solutions are crafted for clients who may have difficulties to read on a computer or mobile screen, or whose cognitive abilities could be declining. there is also a need to ensure sufficient protection against new fraudulent and deceptive strategies in the use of digital tools. let me conclude in stressing that making a difference for financial inclusion is about finding what works to help those who need it. it means looking for innovative solutions while making sure nobody is left out. to achieve this, innovation and support from the financial sector and public authorities go hand in hand. as a central bank, this forces us to think and act “ out of the box ” and to explore new ways of doing things. for fintechs, this means you can count on our support for ideas that work toward a more inclusive and sustainable financial world. 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches on that note, i am looking forward to these afternoon ’ s discussions to help us find