francois villeroy de galhau : some thoughts about monetary policy, the year to come, and the past ten years speech by mr francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the bank of france, at the 25th anniversary of the euro50 group event at the bank of france, paris, 28 november 2024. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to be in such good company to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the euro 50 group. i would like to warmly thank edmond alphandery for being – supported by the late alexandre lamfalussy – the father, and still active chair, of this so pleasant child. euro 50 is as old – or rather as young – as the euro itself. let me start by expressing a great satisfaction, which may be the best present for this anniversary : the euro is a hugely popular success. 78 % of euro area citizens and 74 % of french citizens support our single currencyi – even more than the 68 % at the start. since its introduction in 1999, the euro has become the second most important currencyii in the international monetary system – and the ecb one of the most influential central banks in the world. yet, getting stronger throughout the challenging crises of the 21st century has not always been plain sailing, and won't be in the next future. today, i would like to focus briefly about where we are and where we could be heading in the near future ( i ), before coming back to the past ten years and what we learned on our unconventional toolkit ( ii ). i. where we are today, and where we could go in the year to come. in the euro area, inflation reached its peak at 10. 6 % in october 2022 and exceeded 4 % for two years. but it receded quickly, and stood at 2. 0 % in october 2024. beyond the likely ups and downs in the coming monthly data due to base effects, victory against inflation is in sight. the situation has however changed compared to the last months ; so has the balance of risks. as you know, the ecb has no dual mandate ; yet, our price stability primary objective is symmetric, around the 2 % target. in the euro area, inflation persistence is no longer the only risk. there is equally the opposite risk that inflation undershoots, especially if growth remains subpar. according to the latest actual inflation data, the euro area could be sustainably at 2 % inflation already early 202

francois villeroy de galhau : card payments in europe – latest trends and challenges speech by mr francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the bank of france, at the bank of france conference “ card payments in europe – latest trends and challenges ”, paris, 18 january 2016. * * * ladies and gentlemen, dear yves mersch, dear mario nava, first and foremost, on behalf of banque de france, i would like to warmly welcome you all in paris. i am delighted to open this conference dedicated to card payments in europe. a large number of european actors involved in the card payments market are represented today, including regulatory authorities and market players, and i have no doubt that the debates that are going to take place will give us a valuable insight on the latest trends and the challenges they bring with them. before leaving the floor to our speakers and panelists, i would simply like to share with you a few thoughts on two of those challenges, one addressed to the supply side of the card payments market and one to the regulatory community. i. first challenge : the sustainability of the dominance gained by cards as payment instruments. will the most used payment instrument in europe continue to rise or will it fall? over the last decade, payment cards have steadily consolidated their dominance as the most used non - cash payment instruments in france and europe. in 2014, payment cards were used for more than 47 billion transactions in the european union, that is to say a level almost identical to the overall combined number of transactions involving credit transfers and direct debits, respectively the second and third most used payment instruments. in france, payment cards were used in more than 50 % of all non - cash payments transactions, amounting to nearly 9. 5 billion operations in 2014, compared to only 3 billion transactions in 2001. the specificity of card payments is that they occur for transactions of a relatively small amount ( 47€ in average in france ), making it the strongest alternative to cash for proximity payments. this situation is the result of years of efforts made by market stakeholders to build a secure, efficient and convenient payment instrument. the french community was at the forefront of such evolution with the early adoption in 1992 of chip for payment cards, which has been followed by the introduction and the subsequent widespread adoption of the emv standard. this latter evolution has been the cornerstone of the uptake of payment cards by allowing fast and secure transactions through europe. this predominance of payment cards may nonetheless