as the share of household wealth managed by professional asset managers increases, raises the need for good governance, more financial education, and transparency. there is a crucial need for adequate information to households. recent developments in financial markets support the view that households may not be a position to make informed choices owing to a lack of financial sophistication. they do not fully grasp the risks inherent to their investment decisions, even more so, if these investments have medium to long - term horizon. most households today simply do not have the time, skill or the access to the relevant information in order to manage themselves their long - term savings. they depend on professional asset management for these purposes. however, the interaction between sophisticated asset managers and financially unsophisticated households has its own risks ( for both sides ) – requiring supervision and consumer protection in order to avert contagion and reputation effects. the role of private pension funds in financial markets let me now turn to the role of pension funds in the financial system and their interactions with and implications for monetary policy : from a monetary policy viewpoint, given the interactions between financial market developments and monetary policy decision - making it is important to monitor and understand the factors driving the structures of the financial system. furthermore, a well - functioning, liquid and deep financial market is essential for central banks as it better ensures that high quality information about economic fundamentals can be extracted from financial market prices. owing to the fact that pension funds are stable long - term investors with sophisticated investment strategies implies that they potentially play an important role in the shaping of the financial market. hence, the growing importance of pension funds, as illustrated in the strong growth of pension fund assets, is therefore likely to enhance the efficiency, depth and liquidity of the financial markets. this may contribute to improving the functioning of the financial system and, in turn, may foster a smoother transmission of monetary policy. in this light, it may be useful to briefly dwell on the recent trends in terms of pension fund investment structures measured by the allocation of financial assets. chart ii thus illustrates that bills and bonds issued by the public and private sectors is the predominant asset class constituting around 39 % of total pension fund assets in 2006. however, the importance of bonds as an investment class has been waning somewhat in recent years reflecting a reallocation of pension fund assets towards allocations in shares and investment funds. especially, pension funds ’ investment in mutual funds increased markedly over the past years : from 8 % of total

##sidencies. the italian presidency has also promoted the development of a global baseline for disclosing and reporting sustainability information ; it has focused on metrics for classifying and verifying sustainable investment ; and it has called on international financial institutions to align their operations with the aims of the paris agreement. other initiatives to further promote sustainability include : the request to the imf and the international organisations of the interagency group on economic and financial statistics to consider climate - related data needs in preparing a new data gap initiative ; the work carried out by the financial stability board to both address data gaps on climate - related financial risks and enhance disclosures ; the proposal to examine how to scale - up digital finance to promote sustainable growth ; and the analytical review of specific solutions to achieve climate neutrality, including carbon pricing. digitalisation also received ample consideration in our agenda. in july the g20 menu of policy options on digital transformation and productivity recovery was endorsed. it provides an overview of measures to revive productivity growth, with a particular focus on digital platforms, digital skills and intangible assets. this menu will contribute to future discussions within the g20 and will eventually serve as a guide for effective policies and regulations, to ensure that the benefits of digitalisation and innovation are fully exploited and evenly shared. as part of our drive to foster the development of new technologies, in may the bank of italy and the bank for international settlements ( bis ) innovation hub, through its singapore centre, launched a new g20 techsprint, following an analogous initiative last year by the saudi arabian presidency. our international hackathon received about 250 draft proposals and 99 full applications from 25 countries ; 21 teams advanced to the final stage and the 3 most promising solutions for the proposed challenges, which concerned green and sustainable finance, won the competition. these 3 teams are now competing in the global fintech hackcelerator organised by the monetary authority of singapore at this festival. i am recording this message before the announcement of the winners, so i wish them all the best of luck. our attention to the opportunities offered by digitalisation has gone hand in hand with a focus on the challenges that it poses to financial inclusion. the digitalisation of payments and financial services has accelerated sharply during the pandemic. in lower income countries, many citizens can access basic financial services only through online providers. without comprehensive financial awareness and better consumer protection, consumers, not only in less developed countries, may find themselves exposed to risks due to digitalisation. the