break - up of the euro area? christian noyer : by definition, this scenario is totally ruled out : no country is willing to consider this option since it would have an astronomic cost for all euro area countries, the strong and the weak alike. sud ouest : won ’ t the fiscal austerity measures imposed on euro area countries that have benefited from eu - imf loans have exorbitant social costs? christian noyer : they may be hard to bear. but it would be unrealistic to think that growth and purchasing power can be lastingly sustained if public deficits continue to rise. sud ouest : france has taken over the presidency of the g - 20 group of leading nations. and, on this occasion, nicolas sarkozy would like to pave the way towards a reform of the international monetary system that would reduce the dollar's role. do you see this as a possibility? bis central bankers ’ speeches christian noyer : the aim is not to reduce the role of the dollar. even though it has already partially lost its sole reserve currency status, the dollar will continue to play a major role in trade. france is approaching this presidency with an open mind, but there is no doubt that the international monetary system is no longer suited to today's world. designed in the 1940s and reformed in the 1970s, this system bears the hallmark of an era when international trade played a much smaller role, and when emerging countries such as china, india and brazil were much less significant players in the global economy. this new configuration must be taken into account. today, we must hold discussions and debates, measure the magnitude of capital flows that could have very destabilising effects on some countries and strive in a united manner to correct the major imbalances that are dampening world growth. bis central bankers ’ speeches

experience shows that financial players need a risk - free settlement asset. however, with the development of the tokenisation of financial assets, would it be advisable to tokenise their counterpart, the settlement currency? doing this may lead to changes not in what constitutes the very foundation of central bank money – confidence – but in the way it is issued. it is in this context that the opportunity for a “ wholesale ” central bank digital currency could arise. this requires central banks to invest in the technical innovations underpinning the digitisation of financial assets and their transfer methods, to conduct experiments and take advantage of them in order to improve the performance of the services they provide to the economy. and that is what the banque de france is doing. with the support of its lab, it has been investing in blockchain technology for several years now, and is implementing it on an operational level with its madre project for 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches managing the databases for sepa creditor identifiers and bank branches. another recent example is the ecb ’ s launch of the target instant payment settlement ( tips ), with the aim of ensuring the coordinated development of instant payments. by placing its initiatives within the framework of the eurosystem ’ s discussions on an “ e - euro ", the banque de france will continue and enhance its investment and expertise in the area of innovation in payment infrastructures and means of payment. to this end, it has recently created an infrastructures, innovation and payments directorate. this directorate will enhance its resources in this area and will, i hope, participate in the work carried out within the bis innovation hub. on an operational level, this commitment will soon lead the bank, in close cooperation with market professionals, to conduct experiments with a view to integrating a cbdc into the procedures for exchanging tokenised assets. in this respect, a call for projects will be launched at the end of march 2020. conclusion it is indisputable that the digitisation of the economy has been a source of progress in the field of payments and other areas, as it has diversified and streamlined the services offered to the consumer. however, despite this positive assessment, we must not overlook the growing interdependence of economies, and the sovereignty risks that this greater intermediation is likely to pose in a context of trade tensions. at the banque de france and the acpr, we are ready to assist the market in the transformations necessary to preserve and