to meeting the ambitious target deadlines set out in the fintech charter. this allows us to respond to the first criticism levelled against us : the lack of visibility over the application procedure and the amount of time they take. we shall continue our efforts to ensure we gradually get closer to our target deadlines, and not just in average terms ( we have already met it this year ), but for all individual cases. ii. in france and europe, we need to keep pace with the digital transformations under way our attention is focused in particular on another aspect of the digital evolution : crypto - assets. the “ crypto winter ” caused by the crashes of terra - luna followed by celsius network, by no means signifies that cryptos are over ; it ’ s more of a weeding - out process. the share of stablecoins that are, in principle, backed by mechanisms to stabilise their value has risen fivefold in 20 months. ensuring a lasting future for stablecoins – which is a legitimate goal – means remaining vigilant with regard to the associated risks. because, in reality, the name covers a wide range of different forms : - “ crypto - backed ” stablecoins, where the word “ stablecoin ” is a misnomer as the coins are backed by other crypto - assets ; or algorithmic stablecoins, a category to which luna belonged ; - stablecoins backed by a basket of assets held in reserve, for example commodities or monetary assets, such as money market funds and commercial paper ; in reality these are similar to investment tools and should be treated as such ; - last, stablecoins backed by bank deposits denominated in a single currency, which are designed to be used as global payment instruments. page 4 of 5 regardless of what form they take, stablecoins are, at this stage and in the majority of cases, denominated in dollars and have been developed outside europe. their widescale use within europe would therefore pose a dual challenge, for our strategic autonomy and for our monetary stability ; indeed this is one of the reasons why the eurosystem has launched an investigation phase on a retail digital euro. we are also looking very seriously into the possibility of a wholesale central bank digital currency : it would play a key role as the safest settlement asset, and would thus continue to anchor the monetary and financial system, even as the latter becomes partially tokenised. this is why the ban

activity indicators have been weak. an escalation in trade tensions could lower chinese gdp growth by up to 1. 5 percentage points6 over a two year horizon. the slowdown could also encourage authorities to stimulate the economy, leading to increases in already high levels of corporate debt ( 155 % of gdp compared with 106 % in the euro area ) 7 and in the risks to financial stability. our second challenge is impatience. thirty years ago, independence was conceived as a response to the temptation to make trade - offs between growth and price stability. but the real temptation, which is even stronger today, is to trade off long - term interests in favour of the short term. financial markets are frequently characterised by short - termism and bouts of extreme volatility. but, more importantly, there is a political pressure towards it, driven by populist impatience that would like to have a lot, right away. for a number of years this impatience has been hindering long - term efforts in the form of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, and these have unfortunately slowed in g20 countries. when we compare the performances of our different european member states, it is clear that debt and public spending are not the engines of growth. there is a need today for fiscal stimulus in those countries that have surpluses, and for structural reforms across the board : without this there can be no sustainable growth. on this issue, i would just like to say a word on france, which has stood out as a positive exception over the past two years : the gilets jaunes ( yellow vest ) crisis provided justification for an emergency “ package ” to bolster purchasing power ; but i do not think it should or even could halt the transformation efforts already underway. lastly, and this is our third challenge, isolationism, characterised by the escalation of trade tensions, constitutes the biggest short - term threat to global growth. even before the tariff hikes, the uncertainty caused by protectionist stances, essentially on the part of the united states, already appears to be threatening growth via its impact on business investment. more broadly, uncooperative economic strategies – including within europe – are on the rise. if each country 3 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches seeks only to protect its own national interests, then everyone risks losing out – a phenomenon economists call “ the prisoner ’ s dilemma ”. according to a banque de france study, a more collective fiscal and structural strategy could have boosted euro area gdp growth by between