face - to - face customer identity verification of new customers – identified as one of the main regulatory irritants for fintechs – while maintaining an equivalent level of security ; ( ii ) we have raised the awareness of crypto - asset service providers and assisted them with understanding the application of aml / cft rules. the traceability of blockchain technologies appears to be a useful feature for analysing the behaviour of suspicious portfolios, even though such tools require further development ; ( iii ) we have established an initial dialogue between fintechs and traditional banking players in order to improve their access to bank accounts. today, i would like to urge banks to participate, in a constructive manner, in the transformation of the financial sector, without undue concerns. fintechs are not our enemies, but key players in the modernisation of the financial sector and a catalyst for reflecting on the transformation of the banking model in order to address the needs of their customers. this is particularly the case for open banking, which is now regulated by the revised payment services directive ( psd2 ), because shared security rules are needed. i believe and hope that the difficulties of its implementation are largely behind us. moreover, if banks and fintechs did not both know how to innovate, and often innovate together, bigtechs would ultimately reap the rewards. furthermore, we take very seriously the commitments we made to you last year : we have therefore worked with you this year on the deadlines and visibility of the stages in the authorisation process of fintechs. in this context, i am pleased to announce that a fintech charter will be adopted and published before the end of the year. this charter will clearly explain, in great detail, the stages in this authorisation process, from their first contact with the acpr to their obtaining the required authorisation or registration. it will contain specific commitments on the part of the acpr, firstly in terms of the visibility of the process : the appointment of a dedicated analyst, an indication of the additional information to be provided, and an authorisation certificate to facilitate procedures with investors. secondly, in terms of deadlines : at each stage of the process, acknowledgement of receipt will be provided within two days and a response will be given on the content of the request within two weeks. the charter will also clarify our requirements regarding authorisation applications so that they can be prepared as well as possible. in order to help entrepreneurs

: “ wishful thinking is one reason that monetary policy has historically been excessively inflationary … to my mind, wishful thinking is as worrisome a problem for monetary policy as time inconsistency. ” genuine concern for the unemployed means a recognition that sustainable reductions in unemployment require a combination of monetary stability on the demand side and microeconomic reforms such as the new deal on the supply side. as alan blinder has reminded us, we need soft hearts and hard heads, not the other way round. despite suggestions to the contrary, the mpc does have soft hearts and hard heads, and does not base its assessment of the labour market – never mind its decisions on interest rates – solely on estimates of the growth of average earnings. an assessment of the overall tightness of the labour market requires all the available data – both quantity and prices – to be analysed. the wealth and diversity of published labour statistics means it is rare for them all to point in the same direction. the mpc ’ s analysis of the labour market is like the construction of a jigsaw puzzle. the pieces of data are assessed alongside each other in order to build up as clear a picture as possible. no single piece of data is interpreted in isolation. and no single piece of data is, in itself, decisive. the growth of wages and salaries is an important indicator of domestically generated inflation. but this does not imply that there is some magical threshold defining “ acceptable ” and “ unacceptable ” rates of earnings growth. in the short run, the link between earnings growth and inflation is complicated by a whole host of factors, including exchange rate movements, cyclical variations in productivity and profit margins, irregular bonus payments, and one - off adjustments to tax rates and other “ wedge ” effects. it is true that given the uk ’ s historical levels of annual productivity growth of around 2 % and the inflation target of 22 %, it would be a cause for concern to the mpc if average earnings increased by much more – or much less – than 4. 5 % a year over a prolonged period without there being a corresponding change in trend productivity growth. that is not because the committee has a view about the appropriate level of pay awards. it is not our job to second - guess what businesses should or should not pay their employees. nor is it because we think earnings growth causes inflation – inflation is a monetary phenomenon. rather it is because sustained earnings growth much above or below these rates may indicate that the level