only after the incumbent currency has been debauched by hyperinflation. walport ( 2016 ). autonomous research ( 2016 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches central bank digital currency : who can bank at the central bank? what, then, of the exchange of money, the particular asset for which the distributed ledger technology was originally conceived? well that too has its own layers. broadly speaking, at least for a given currency, there are two : commercial banks and the central bank. as we saw in chart 1, most of what you and i consider money is held as liquid claims on commercial banks, i. e. deposits. most transactions in the economy involve transfers of these claims. that ’ s obviously a straightforward matter if the two parties to the transaction use the same bank. when there are different banks involved – and that ’ s going to be true most of the time – there needs to be a means by which one can transfer money to the other. this is done using their deposits at the central bank – so - called “ reserves ” 6. that ’ s why the central bank is sometimes called “ the banker ’ s bank ”, and why reserves are often described as “ the ultimate settlement asset ”. the function of settling inter - bank transfers lies at the heart of what central banks do and, arguably, explains how they came about ( shafik ( 2016 ) ; see also goodhart ( 1988 ) ). a “ central bank digital currency ” ( cbdc ) would involve putting these reserve deposits on a distributed ledger. and if it allows for securities to be exchanged more cheaply and securely, might the same not be true for these money balances? yes, presumably. it ’ s not clear the savings would be as large as those for exchanging securities. the current set - up, which has the central bank as a single hub through which all inter - bank transfers take place, already involves significant economies of scale. that ’ s precisely the advantage of having a single, trusted third party at the centre : you don ’ t need so many layers to begin with. there are certainly new technologies that can reduce, and indeed already are reducing, the costs of the front end of the existing payments system ( i. e. the flow of commercial bank deposits round the economy ). the ability to pay one ’ s bills over the internet is a case in point : the more that happens, the less the need for expensive bank branches. but that is happening independently of any

from the measures that are still at an early stage of implementation. at the same time, uncertainty remains high and downside risks are still significant due to the continued fragile state of the global economy and geopolitical developments. we will closely monitor the evolution of the outlook for price stability. we stand ready to act by using all the instruments available within our mandate, if necessary, to achieve our objective. in particular, the ecb is ready for all contingencies following the uk ’ s eu referendum. investment in the euro area after the sharp downturn observed during the financial crisis in 2008 and the renewed decline during the european sovereign debt crisis, real investment in the euro area has now begun to recover. in particular, business investment has undergone a welcome recovery since 2013 and public and housing investment have recently broadly stabilised. despite these positive trends, the current level of investment is still unsatisfactory. the level of total real investment in the euro area remains more than 10 % below pre - crisis levels. therefore, further action is needed, including at eu level. the investment plan for europe is a welcome example. while we would support extending it beyond 2018, the success of the current plan also rests on its capacity to improve the investment environment, at both european and national level. only reforms in this area can guarantee its long - term effects. at eu level – and here the european parliament has an important role to play as colegislator – we should further deepen the single market, notably in the areas of energy, transport and the digital economy. we should also make full use of the potential of existing single market legislation by ensuring its complete and consistent enforcement. strengthening the european dimension of regulatory enforcement would help to lessen complexity, enhance the level playing field and reduce the fragmentation of product markets. in addition, we should act decisively to make the channelling of savings into productive investment more efficient. the banking union, including the ecb in its micro - and bis central bankers ’ speeches macroprudential role, has an important role to play in ensuring that banking markets efficiently allocate resources to the most productive investment opportunities across the euro area. progress on the capital markets union is also essential to develop a favourable environment for productive investment in the eu. it will help diversify the sources of funding needed to spur investment – notably for smes and long - term projects – by complementing bank financing with deeper, more developed capital markets. the legislative acts regarding simple, transparent and