denominated in us dollars. however, eliminating exchange rate fluctuations, the share of the us dollar increased by just over 1 percentage point in the course of 1999 and then showed virtually no change up to march 2000. the use of a currency as an official reserve is one important factor in determining its international role. however, its use by the private sector as an investment and financing, a payment and vehicle currency is pivotal. the introduction of the euro accentuated the integration of european capital markets and the trend towards securitisation and the associated disintermediation of the banking sector. the euro also acted as a catalyst in diversifying european portfolios away from local - market - based to euro - based issues. developments in the international financial markets show that the euro quickly established itself for new issues. thus, in the first nine months following its introduction, the euro accounted for a large share of international bonds and notes issues and almost equalled the dollar : according to bis data, in 1999 : • net issues of bonds and notes in euro amounted to us $ 521. 2 bn ; • us $ 543. 9 bn of net bonds and notes issues were dominated in us $ ; • for the second quarter of 2000 the bis reports net issues of bonds and notes in euro equal to us $ 95. 8 bn ; • compared with a net issue in us - dollar equal to us $ 96. 1 bn. but the euro is still a young currency : according to the bis, by end of june 2000 stocks of all bonds and notes amounted to : • us $ 2, 615. 6 bn denominated in us $ ; • compared with us $ 1, 616. 0 bn denominated in euro ; • which means a share of the us $ of 47. 7 % compared to a share of the euro of 29. 7 %. that shows that adjustments in the portfolios of international investors or in official reserves of the public sector will take much longer as much bigger sums have to be moved and large - scale portfolio shifts would have implications for securities prices and exchange rates. it is also highly unlikely that the euro will displace the dollar as an investment and reserve currency in the foreseeable future because there is no public issuer in the euro area comparable to the us - treasury and because the european capital markets are still fragmented to some extent - despite monetary union. considering the first point, it has been suggested recently that national governments in the euro area should pool

andreas dombret : sitting it out is not an option – what does digitalisation mean for germany ’ s banking sector? opening speech by dr andreas dombret, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the bundesbank symposium on “ banking supervision in dialogue ”, frankfurt am main, 8 july 2015. * 1. * * introduction ladies and gentlemen welcome to the bundesbank ’ s 19th banking symposium. i ’ m delighted to see that we have a full house again and that you have come from all across germany to join us here in frankfurt. i ’ d like to extend a warm welcome to my executive board colleagues johannes beermann, joachim nagel and carl - ludwig thiele. ms buch and mr weidmann would also like to have been here today, but have prior engagements and send their best regards. 2. the banking sector in transition ladies and gentlemen, the computer on board america ’ s first lunar module weighed around 30 kg. it had the processing power of a pocket calculator, which you can now pick up anywhere for a couple of euro – unless of course you just use the calculator app on your mobile phone or tablet. around the time of the us moon landing, well over 40 years ago, the computer gradually started to become a part of life, both at work and, later, at home. then, almost 20 years later, the internet began to take off too. these days, it ’ s no longer just the manufacturing industry – under the umbrella of industry 4. 0 – but also banks and other financial service providers that are caught up in a new wave of digitalisation. the question we have to ask ourselves – you, as bankers, and my colleagues and i as bundesbankers – is what can our sector do to keep this wave of advancement from dragging us down and instead allow it to propel us forward into new territory? don ’ t get me wrong, the majority of banks started to set up sophisticated it infrastructures for their core banking business decades ago, with online banking now part of the standard package. however, the current wave of digitalisation is not only simplifying and speeding up individual processes, but also changing many of the rules of the game in banking business. what is the driving force behind this wave of digitalisation? it essentially consists of three elements which i will discuss in my speech today, namely technology, competition and customers. it goes without saying that the