fact that there has always been, and there will always be, a strong interconnection between the state of the public finances and the quality of the banks ’ balance sheets. because of that, following a deep financial and banking crisis in the mid - 1990s, bulgaria adopted one of the most conservative supervisory standards and practices in europe. what is more, they have been persistently implemented in a countercyclical fashion, both before and during the crisis. as deputy governor simeonov will detail later at this conference, the bnb has mastered and tested successfully a long list of both “ macro ” and “ micro ” bank supervision instruments. in the “ good ” times, the bnb insisted on the build - up of capital and liquidity buffers, discouraging banks from excessive asset growth and risk - taking. but since the end of 2008, the bnb focused on the capital and liquidity relief for banks while also allowing them to ease lending. as a result of these conservative and countercyclical policies of the bnb, and the rather prudent behaviour of the banks themselves, today bulgaria manifests a very stable banking sector, with outstanding capital adequacy and liquidity ratios. four years after the lehman brothers collapse, the banking system of bulgaria remains one of the few in the eu where no single bank needed to be rescued or supported with taxpayers ’ or central bank money. merging the monetary and macropdudential mandates ( including banking supervision ) under the auspices of the central banks is currently being implemented in some of the “ older ” eu member states. the macroprudential oversight of the financial system is being introduced only recently at the eu level. while these new concepts are now being embraced by central bankers and politicians worldwide, the simultaneous pursuit of both monetary and banking stability, from a true macroprudential perspective, has been the order of the day for the bnb for more than a decade now. through our own painful experience with a crisis in 1996 – 1997, we became fully aware of the systemic importance of the financial system. thus a key element behind the success of the overall policy mix in bulgaria is that our central bank is entrusted with the tasks and responsibilities to regulate and supervise the banks in the country, with the goal of ensuring the stability of the banking system. bis central bankers ’ speeches only three days ago, the capital markets provided the latest proof of the efficiency of the macroeconomic policies in bulgaria and the resilience of our economy

nina stoyanova : innovations statement by ms nina stoyanova, deputy governor and head of the banking department of the bulgarian national bank, at the opening of the financial forum “ innovations ”, organized by association “ bank of the year ”, sofia, 9 june 2021. * * * market developments today are driven by the new technologies. they provide a basis for increasingly diverse and innovative payment products. digitalization of processes and services has led to development in the financial sector in europe further stimulated by the policies of the european and national regulators. payment services are getting more convenient, secure and accessible. today, when consumers make on - line purchases, they expect the payments to be executed swiftly and smoothly, requiring no additional time or effort. the global pandemic increased the interest of different businesses to the payment sector. we witness a quick acceleration of digitalization in most of the spheres of life, such as work, shopping and administrative services. this has also generated a demand for alternative methods of payment. according to the latest public data, three out of four users worldwide have changed their method of payment owing to the covid - 19 crisis. half of the consumers would opt to shop online, where possible. during the pandemic large part of consumers have tried for the first time a new shopping or payment method. currently, we observe an enhanced activity of the innovative payment market players. these are fintech companies that have proven themselves in other sectors but also the so - called “ challenger banks ”. using digital technologies, they try to redefine the provision of financial services to improve customer experience and to find their place on this highly competitive market. these new players position themselves mostly in market niches with a potential for further development. such niches are, for example, the digital wallets, person - to - person ( p2p ) and business - to - business ( b2b ) payments, as well as value added services offered on the basis of existing traditional payment services. with the second payment services directive ( psd 2 ), two new types of electronic payment services were regulated in the european union – payment initiation services and account information services. these new services are already offered in bulgaria and provide technological basis for the implementation of the so - called ‘ open banking ’. it enables fintech companies to enter the payment market more easily by introducing new business models, services and solutions. examples for such services are aggregation of payment account data from different payment service providers, carrying out financial analysis