of our ecosystem. the selected startups have indeed come up with promising solutions to strengthen financial inclusion. that being said, such digital revolution, as we all know, is not only about opportunities, but also about risks and challenges, namely in terms of cybercrime, money laundering and terrorist financing, and personal data protection, etc. this highlights, once again, the need for appropriate regulation. in the banking sector, we, as a central bank, are striving for more agile and appropriate regulation, while offering support to the new actors and ensuring their supervision. with respect to the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, the recent mena - fatf assessment highlighted some shortcomings among financial inclusion non - bank actors. hence, a compliance program was set up by the authorities with the aim of remedying this situation in the medium term. as regards personal data protection, morocco has ratified the 108th convention of the council of europe and its additional protocol. since then, it set up a national control unit to ensure proper observation of the various rights ( of information, access, rectification and opposition ). in this respect, the central bank plays an important role as an interface between this unit and financial inclusion stakeholders. however, this legal framework is likely to evolve in view of the regulatory progress made in this area, particularly at the european union level. with regard to cyber security risks, morocco is moving towards developing a strategy for the security of information systems, which would be based on risk identification to provide specific legal, technical and awareness - raising measures to ensure protection, defense and security. this project is coordinated by the national defense administration and the central bank also acts as an interface with financial actors. all these developments, particularly the introduction of new actors in the implementation of the national financial inclusion strategy, will have a significant impact on banks'profitability and will put their traditional business models to the test. while these banks may be hampered by their complex architecture and cumbersome organization, the rapid unbundling of banking services to the benefit of non - banking fintechs could result in a substantial loss in their market share. under these conditions, and taking advantage of technological contributions, many banks have embarked on strategies to develop their services and to diversify their distribution channels. in this respect, a study carried out by bank al - maghrib in 2019 reveals that most banks have concluded contracts with technology start - ups in the form of equity investments and partnerships. however, it should

jaime caruana : chairman of the basel committee discusses basel ii reuters interview with mr jaime caruana, governor of the bank of spain and chairman of the basel committee on banking supervision, basel, 8 september 2003. interviewed by stella dawson and thomas atkins. * * * new bank rules to smooth economic swings - caruana new capital rules for banks worldwide should smooth economic swings and strengthen the financial system, making it easier for central bankers to set interest rates, the new head of the basel committee said on monday. in his first major interview since taking over the mammoth job of pushing through the “ basel ii ” bank capital accord, jaime caruana told reuters that he doubts the complex risk - based capital requirements will worsen business cycles. instead, he said inserting more regulatory oversight into assessing how much capital a bank sets aside against possible loan losses, and increasing the amount of information banks must make public, should make banks much safer and better prepared for economic downturns. “ it is a completely new approach. in that sense it is a kind of revolution, ” said caruana, who is also governor of the bank of spain. some bankers and politicians have criticised the reforms, which aim to lessen the risk of banking crises and are scheduled to take effect at the end of 2006. but caruana said that requiring banks to run their capital through a stress test to assess what impact worsening economic conditions will have on their loan portfolios, and requiring bank supervisors to evaluate those models independently, increases the safety of the bank. “ this is one of the measures that will help the banks to be less pro - cyclical because they will have taken into account the whole ( business ) cycle, ” he said. the basel committee on banking supervision, which groups supervisors from major industrial economies, released the new rules earlier this year. the rules, dubbed basel ii because they replace a 1988 accord, were open for comment until july. critics have said the basel ii accord, by requiring banks to increase capital reserves as loans get riskier, will withdraw credit from the economy exactly when it is most needed, creating a credit crunch and making business downturns more severe. while caruana said that badly capitalised banks that have not assessed their risk properly certainly will face problems, he does not view it as endemic. rather the banking system overall will be better capitalised so less vulnerable to shocks. this in turn will reduce the need for central bankers to keep interest rates low for