rethinking the way we do things. it entails changes at a fundamental, foundational level, which means that it requires organisations to evolve. three examples of how technology is transforming how we do business come to mind immediately. the first is payment systems. in recent years, we ’ ve seen the emergence of mobile wallets and crypto assets, offered in many cases by entities that fall outside the rubric of traditional prudential regulation. these developments can influence how the financial sector landscape evolves. we must determine if and how to regulate them, and we must develop the capacity to do so. in barbados, we envisage that new payments system regulation will seek to address this gap in our regulatory framework. the second is data. more than ever, both the public and private sector rely on accurate, timely, and specific data for analysis and forecasting, and they look to central banks to provide much of 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches that data. we need to ensure we are able to offer the breadth and depth of statistics they require. in this regard, we recently relaunched our online statistics to make access easier for users. the third is communication. when the central bank of barbados was established 47 years ago, we undertook the task of educating and sensitizing the public on economic matters, using, inter alia, quarterly press conferences and physical documents for our economic review and annual reports. now, our audiences are more fragmented than ever, and consume information in different ways. we have to retool our communications to meet their needs. most of what we produce is now available online, our press conferences are streamed, and our information is disseminated on social media platforms. hr ’ s role in digital transformation all three examples demonstrate how technology is altering how we function as a central bank. but the transformation that we are witnessing is not about technology only. if it was, it would fall exclusively under the ambit of our it departments. but at its core, this transformation is really about people. this is why hr is critical to its success. you will have to guide your organisation and its employees through this dramatic change. this is always a difficult feat, but one compounded by the potential anxiety about the new technologies that will form part of this shift. for while in our private lives we readily embrace technology and the conveniences it facilitates – smartphones, alexa, the myriad social media platforms, and if we travel, uber and airbnb – professionally

in recent years, and in june 2018 set out that the balance sheet would be unwound at a gradual and predictable pace, allowing reserves to fall back to a level demanded by banks through their participation in regular repo operations, and once the bank rate had risen to around 1. 5 %, thus creating more headroom for the future use of bank rate both up and down. the mpc keeps this approach under review, though i should make clear that it does not seem like an imminent issue in current conditions. but we are looking at the next decade at this conference, so who knows what will happen. we should keep the options to use all our tools as open as possible, so i would conclude that the appropriate policy mix going forwards over a decade may be more nuanced than all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches and @ boe _ pressoffice previously thought. either way, our actions will be guided by our remit of achieving low inflation with financial stability. conclusion the covid crisis to date has demonstrated that qe and forward guidance around it have been effective in a particular situation. it emphasises that we remain in a world where the choice of tool to use is more important than it has been at times in the past. and there is more nuance and flexibility within tools – thus, while qe relies more on stock effects when used in normal times, in a case of extreme market dysfunction the flow effect of the liquidity channel may come to prominence. the mpc has moved on from that approach as market conditions have eased. in june we increased the stock of qe purchases, but at a slower pace. and in august we introduced forward guidance, stating that the committee does not intend to tighten monetary policy until there is clear evidence that significant progress is being made in eliminating spare capacity and achieving the 2 % inflation target sustainably. this important step is intended to ensure monetary conditions do not tighten prematurely when there are some initial signs of an economic recovery. we also made clear that our box does include other tools, including the possibility of negative rates. we have used private sector asset purchases through the corporate bond programme, longer - term liquidity provision to banks with targeted lending incentives, and direct purchasing of newly issued commercial paper to supplement market - based lending channels. we are not out of firepower by any means, and to be honest it looks from today ’ s vantage point that we were too cautious