##security. today the focus is on financial market infrastructure. one of the questions being asked in this section of the conference is, “ what challenges are likely to emerge with new operating models and new actors in the financial sector? ” as i said before, the fintech snowstorm is already here. the newest challenge with respect to cybersecurity is the emergence of new players offering financial services, some of whom have not provided financial services before. the question therefore becomes : what technology are they using? is it established, or is it new and unknown technology? we also know that attitudes towards security and operational risk are important. but with tech firms rushing to offer new products to the market, there is the risk of insufficient emphasis on security. this is a risk that must be monitored – not only for new products or for new players, but also for incumbent businesses. tech giants like google, apple, and alibaba look set to become dominant players. their advantage comes from providing cross - border services and having already gathered significant information about users. they are already present in the nordic marketplace. this development may lean towards monopolies, as it can create entry barriers for new and smaller players in the market. if that proves to be the case, it could have a negative impact on competition and go against the aims of the psd2 ( the recent eu directive on payment services in the internal market ( 2015 / 2366 ). this risk is greater when the payment mechanisms are outside the jurisdiction of the relevant state. then there is the question of supervision. will the new solutions be supervised, and if so, how? the challenge here is that many new solutions are global, and thus outside the european economic area or the european single market. such supervision thus requires crossborder cooperation among supervisors. the challenge for the supervisor is also to maintain a comprehensive overview of the market. for the legislator, it is a challenge to stay on top of rapid technological developments, as rules tend to lag behind technological changes. financial market participants must commit fully to guarding the system. cybersecurity needs to be promoted at all levels. with respect to this fast - changing technology, keeping one step ahead of antisocial elements is a constant challenge. as i see it, cooperation is the only way forward. it is vital that all financial system entities work together on all fronts – within and between countries – to identify and address vulnerabilities. we need to share both our successes and our

the start of the recovery. it has now raised the policy rate a dozen times, by a total of 6. 75 percentage points, to the current 7. 5 %. we admit freely that the central bank of iceland underforecast inflation, as did its counterparts abroad. in retrospect, we could have raised interest rates faster. on the other hand, the impact of rate hikes can never be predicted with perfect accuracy, and prudence surely puts limits on how fast interest rates can be increased. furthermore, policy makers must be careful not to take excessive macroeconomic risk. nevertheless, appraisals by foreign experts have concluded unanimously that the central bank took the right action in a timely manner, both in response to the pandemic and in the effort to maintain price stability in its wake. among these experts are the international monetary 4 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches fund and the appraisal committee appointed pursuant to article 36 of the central bank act. this does not mean we cannot do better, nor does it mean we need not do more. there is no cause for arrogance. i hope the worst will soon be behind us. honoured guests : one repercussion of the past year's swift rise in inflation is the plunge in households'and businesses'real interest rates. unfortunately, the central bank's brisk rate hikes have not sufficed to correct the course. yes, real rates on new non - indexed, variablerate mortgages were 3 - 4 % before the pandemic, fell to zero during the pandemic, and are now negative by 2 %. real rates on older fixed - rate loans are even more negative. real rates on new non - indexed, variable - rate business loans were 3 - 5 % before the pandemic. they fell to zero in 2021 and are still there. at the same time, real rates on deposits range between - 5 % and - 10 %. so in a way, history has repeated itself. inflation and negative real rates have subsidised business investment and home purchases, and transferred wealth from depositors to leveraged households and businesses. such a situation is unsustainable in the long run. the central bank has pushed against household debt collection with all its might. the bank's financial stability measures have entailed tightening mortgage requirements by capping loan - to - value ratios and debt service - to - income ratios. these measures have helped cool the housing market