burkhard balz : the european payment industry in challenging times speech by mr burkhard balz, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the payments association ( pa ) eu " payments tomorrow " – annual conference 2022, madrid, 14 october 2022. * * * 1 introduction : changing payment habits ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your warm welcome and for inviting me to speak at this conference. it is indeed a pleasure to be back in the spanish capital. i cannot imagine a better place to talk about the impact of technology and digitalisation than madrid. it is probably one of the most connected cities in europe and, according to studies, one of the cities with the highest fibre optic availability in europe. 1 and thanks to modern rail technology, madrid's railway connection to barcelona is fast and convenient. while the distance of 621 kilometres is longer than the 550 kilometres between frankfurt and berlin, the train takes two and a half hours here, but nearly 4 hours in germany. so you know how to use technology to connect people! madrid and barcelona are also the most important competitors in spanish football. and even in football, technology is coming increasingly into play. even as we speak, the santiago bernabeu is being modernised for the future. the installation of a designated area for e - sports and a spectacular 360 - degree video display panel are in the planning. with the help of technology such as today's possibilities for real - time game analysis, real madrid might soon even stand a chance of winning a possible encounter with hannover 96 – the club from my part of the world – considering that the last encounter ended three - nil for hannover. but that was nearly ten years ago and it was only a preseason friendly we are seeing this trend towards more and more technology not only in football but also in payments – my professional field of expertise. one obvious example is the trend towards cashless payments. if we look at germany, for instance, the bundesbank found in a recent survey on payment behaviour that the share of cash transactions has fallen to 58 %. 2 the trend is obvious : in the previous studies from 2020 and 2017, cash payments accounted for 60 % and 74 %, respectively. cash usage has experienced a remarkable decline, reinforced by covid - 19. in germany, one of the main effects we saw was the growing popularity of contactless payments – in particular in the form of card payments. while roughly 20 % of

mr meister remarks on the role of credit institutions against the background of banking supervision speech by mr edgar meister, a member of the directorate of the deutsche bundesbank, to the gasc forum on international harmonisation in frankfurt on 16 / 12 / 98. i iasc ( the international accounting standards committee ) and iosco ( the international organization of securities commissions ) have undertaken to develop internationally applicable accountancy principles and to accept them worldwide as a precondition for cross - border stock exchange listing of securities. this plan has aroused considerable interest among central banks and banking supervisors. a theoretical distinction can be made between a national and an international perspective. in practice, however, both are interlinked. in an age of global interdependency of goods and financial markets, it is no longer meaningful to lay down national rules autonomously. the asia crisis has once again highlighted - and has done so dramatically that crises in one area of the world can spread like wildfire and adversely affect financial markets in other regions, however remote. that event has stepped up the debate on how the international financial markets can be made more stable. among the buzzwords we hear in this context are intensify banking supervision and enhance transparency. there is no disputing the fact that one of the major preconditions for a stable financial market is an effective system of banking supervision - in addition to sound economic and fiscal policies. if banking supervision is to be effective, however, the preparation and publishing of accounts are of major importance. as the member of the bundesbank board responsible for banking supervision, i would like to focus my remarks on the role of the credit institutions. ii banking supervisors depend on institutions fulfilling their reporting requirements and deriving the requisite capital adequacy on the basis of reliable accounts. accounting functions such as the provision of internal information, documentation, ascertainment of profits and losses and informing the market are also useful for banking supervision. it will therefore come as no surprise if i emphasise the advantages of a prudent determination of profit in the banking field with the aim of capital maintenance. that does not necessarily imply undisclosed reserves, which impair the informativeness of the annual accounts. however, the historical cost principle and the principle of the lower cost or market should be retained in the case of banks, at all events where the objective is to ascertain the profit eligible for distribution. furthermore, thought must be given to the capital adequa