beginning of 2017 with the setup of the bank of italy ’ s innovation hub ( ‘ canale fintech ’ ) and was followed this year by an internal reallocation of competencies related to financial innovation that was meant to create a dedicated fintech unit and to leverage potential synergies with other bank of italy ’ s functions ( especially oversight on payment services and currency circulation ). the hub will leverage on its location in milan, the main financial center in italy with a european and global projection, and will be open to the participation of public authorities at both national and international level. cooperation with global hubs such as the one recently launched by the monetary authority of singapore and the bank for international settlements will be a key element in the future success of initiatives like milano hub and will help fostering the development of global solutions to the challenges posed by innovations. as an example, we are planning to launch through the milano hub, in close collaboration with the bis innovation hub, a new techsprint initiative which will take place under the italian g20 presidency, following in the footprints of the very successful exercise conducted under the saudi g20 presidency. in conclusion, in all jurisdictions innovation facilitators will play an important role in testing the impact of innovation in a closed environment and in encouraging the spread of responsible innovation in the financial system. thanks to these new instruments, policymakers will be able to “ cross the river of fintech by feeling the stones ” and to address one by one regulatory and supervisory concerns raised by new fintech models.

each of which brings different risks and opportunities. for example, the introduction of a wholesale - only cbdc could improve the efficiency and the risk management of the interbank payment systems but there are no clear evidences if and how this solution will be more advantageous than current account settlement systems. likewise, a retail cbdcs directly available to end - users could provide access to simple and costless ways of paying, fostering financial inclusion, but at the same time could have undesired side effects on banks ’ business models, financial stability and monetary policies. we are still at the beginning of the development of cbdcs and further analysis will be required in order to tackle all key feasibility and operational challenges. in this respect, the eurosystem is currently evaluating all possible options for a european cbdc in order to be ready to introduce, if needed, a “ digital euro ”. for this purpose, experimentation activities on possible different design solutions of the digital euro will be launched shortly to better understand its technical feasibility as well as its ability to meet the needs of potential users. a digital euro will be complementary to cash and to current european initiatives in the field of retail payments and will be carefully designed having in mind the potential implications on privacy, safety / security, monetary policies and financial stability. for the time being, it is hard to predict if cbdc will prove to be a successful payment instrument and which cbdc solution will prevail in the long run. what is certain, however, is that in the near future cbdcs will coexist with traditional payment instruments and that customers will have access to a broader and diversified range of different payment solutions that could involve traditional cash as well as innovative retail cbdcs. against this background, the italian g20 presidency will promote work in two main areas : i ) a harmonized implementation of fsb recommendations to address financial stability risks from so - called stablecoins, and ii ) the development of measures necessary to effectively address other issues, such as such as money laundering and terrorism financing, data privacy, cyber security, consumer and investor protection and competition. on these works i have two more specific remarks : • first, the obstacles to achieving harmonized approaches in regulating stablecoins across jurisdictions, risks associated with diverging regulatory frameworks and possible cross - border regulatory gaps need to be clearly identified in order to avoid a negative impact on financial stability and to limit regulatory arbitrage. through the work of the fsb, the italian