virulently across borders, doing great damage to the financial systems and real economies of many countries. the uk was particularly affected given its high degree of financial openness. most recently, challenges arising from european monetary union ( emu ) have been particularly evident. our ties are close. 40 % of our exports go to the euro area, and major uk - owned banks have financial exposures to the euro area totalling almost twice their capital, worth a quarter of uk gdp. these figures underscore the importance to the uk of further building the resilience of the euro area as part of a strengthened european union. 9 in this regard, the progress made in recent years is particularly welcome. nonetheless, as highlighted in the european commission ’ s “ five presidents ’ report ”, the euro area remains “ unfinished business. ” 10 actions to complete european monetary union should be taken with regard to their impact on all members of the european union. from the bank of england ’ s perspective, steps to ensure financial stability for those within the euro area should not impede the achievement of financial stability for those without, including the united kingdom. 4. impact on the bank of england objectives so what does this analysis means for the achievement by the bank of its statutory objectives? let me begin with monetary policy. for further discussion of these points, see carney, m ( 2015 ), “ fortune favours the bold ”, speech at iveagh house, dublin, 28 january. see draghi, m ( 2015 ), “ stability and prosperity in monetary union ”, 2 january. bis central bankers ’ speeches 4. 1 monetary policy put simply, economies with sustainable dynamism can grow more quickly before running into excessive price pressures. the uk ’ s greater openness as a result of eu membership provides potential for both greater growth and shocks. the mpc naturally takes these into account when setting monetary policy for the uk. while they have posed challenges at times, the influence of eu membership on these dynamics does not prevent the mpc from achieving its price stability objective. under inflation targeting the mpc has ultimate control over the uk ’ s nominal destiny, allowing the flexibility of the exchange rate and free capital flows to facilitate adjustment to global shocks. the precise path of that adjustment is a policy choice we are free to make, within the framework provided by our monetary policy remit. for example, at the onset of the crisis, a large adjustment of the uk ’ s real exchange rate was necessary

' speeches and traceability in the data. for example, ibm ’ s food trust uses blockchain to connect participants across the food ecosystem, such as growers, processors and retailers, with data collected along the supply chain. this allows them to ensure that food safety protocols and sustainable food practices are adopted at each stage of the food chain. it also allows them to trace any food fraud incidents or food safety breaches back to their source. with greater certainty over the provenance of the data, financial institutions and corporates are better able to mitigate the risks of greenwashing. third, data for monitoring commitments. technology solutions can help financial institutions and project owners in monitoring and meeting their commitments to esg targets. fintechs are providing financial institutions with good data and analytics to assess and benchmark esg performance against peer companies. intensel, a winner of the mas global fintech hackcelerator last year, uses artificial intelligence to analyse climate data and satellite imagery and assess the physical risks faced by assets to floods, typhoons, storm surges, and extreme heat. fourth, data for reporting. fintechs are offering tools to automate the reporting process, while being nimble enough to adapt to various standards, such as the sustainable accounting standards board ( sasb ) and the global reporting initiative ( gri ). matter analytics, another winning solution at last year ’ s mas fintech hackcelerator, offers reporting solutions that help asset managers, asset owners and banks automatically generate customised and comprehensive impact reports for their clients. the technologies are promising, but that is not to say there are no challenges in this space. first, the esg landscape continues to evolve. taxonomies are still being defined and harmonised. these are important efforts that will take some time. disclosures and reporting requirements are also being formulated by governments and regulators. but financial institutions cannot adopt a wait - and - see approach. they should not look at esg only from the lens of regulatory requirements. climate risk is a real threat : financial institutions should have the conviction to want to understand the environmental risks in their portfolios and to mitigate these risks. it is imperative that financial institutions step up efforts to collect the data that are necessary to mitigate their physical and transition risks as soon as possible. second, financial institutions need greater clarity on the esg data they need. the network for greening the financial system ( ngfs ) has recently published a progress report on