on average. in parallel, the only way insurers can meet their long - term return requirements is to diversify their products. unit - linked policies accounted for more than a quarter of gross inflows in september 2019, but only 7 % of net inflows. this discussion is relevant for new subscriptions ; for top - up payments into existing policies, the terms of the contract must of course continue to apply. with regard to new policies and new ad hoc inflows, these should not lead to the returns paid to existing policyholders being overly diluted. the duty of advice applies here : it has to be tailored to the individual client and to their particular situation, but it is rarely good advice to invest 100 % in euro funds or 100 % in unit - linked policies. so i am asking you to use your innovative capacity and promote offerings that, alongside eurocroissance and retirement savings, could make up a category of investments where the risk is contained, somewhere between euro products and unit - linked policies. at the acpr, we are fully prepared to facilitate these initiatives, by supporting any demands for regulatory adjustments that might prove necessary, and without ruling out a recalibration of the tax rules applicable to different products. but more broadly, over the medium - term, it is life insurers ’ business model that needs to be redesigned. we need to think about this together, and get ready to use all the levers that can help in this transformation. ii. our ambition for the solvency ii review i would like to turn now to your second major concern : solvency ii. we are entering a consultation period that is absolutely critical and that will lead in june next year to the issuance of an opinion by eiopa. this opinion, which will be reviewed by the commission, will form the basis for the negotiations with the council and parliament that are scheduled to start in early 2021. here again, we need to put the challenges posed by solvency ii into perspective. let me remind you that this is the most ambitious reform ever undertaken in insurance. the new regulatory framework, based on an page 5 of 6 approach that takes into account all risks to which insurers are exposed, has undeniably strengthened the resilience of the european insurance market. however, and you yourselves see this every day, the prudential requirements imposed by solvency ii have a number of drawbacks, including being volatile and complex. to remedy this

, does not change this observation, and i will return to this later. a forward - looking euro means new banknotes after 2024, with a new design, and even more secure – there are now only 17 counterfeits per million banknotes, making the euro one of the most secure currencies in the world. it is also a digital euro. the investigation phase for a “ digital retail euro ” was launched on 1 october last year, for a period of two years. the aim would be to provide a kind of “ digital banknote ", which would combine the security of banknotes issued by the central bank with the ease of use and innovation of dematerialised means of payment. the ecb and the banque de france are working on all the associated challenges, and we have already conducted 9 experiments in paris on an “ interbank ” digital currency. they will be continued in 2022, focusing on improving cross - border payments. indeed, the euro is also a global success : no continent before us had managed to create and introduce a new currency in this way. in this respect, the euro has a political dimension, to consolidate european sovereignty – like the dollar for the united states. our currency has proven its role in protecting european economies from the turbulence of covid, and has preserved favourable financing conditions for all economic players, households, smes and companies, and states. 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches but for the trimaran of the euro to be fully operational, its central hull – the ecb and the single monetary policy – needs to be completed with two floats. a public float with a permanent common fiscal capacity ( which does not mean that an additional annual budget is needed ), to better cope with macroeconomic shocks. and a private float to promote a better allocation of capital in the euro area. the latter has abundant savings : the surplus of domestic savings over investment structurally exceeds eur 300 billion. it is essential to channel them more towards financing the two major transformations of the coming decade : the ecological and digital transformations. as regards the economic situation, listening to more than 8, 000 companies, we will publish our next monthly survey on tuesday 11 january, and will provide a first assessment of the effects of the fifth wave. we remain confident that they will be relatively limited : we have learned over the past two years that every covid wave, however serious, has diminishing economic effects. in our december projection, we showed that even an