fabio panetta : keeping cyber risk at bay - our individual and joint responsibility introductory remarks by mr fabio panetta, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the fifth meeting of the euro cyber resilience board for pan - european financial infrastructures, frankfurt am main, 16 december 2020. * * * at the last meeting of the euro cyber resilience board for pan - european financial infrastructures ( ecrb ), we were all in the same room at the ecb premises in frankfurt am main. that was on 27 february 2020, when we launched the cyber information and intelligence 1 we already knew this was a critical step in addressing cyber sharing initiative ( ciisi - eu ). threats. but we did not know just how timely it was. shortly after that meeting, the first wave of the coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) pandemic led to strict containment measures across europe. while the upcoming vaccine roll - outs are a light at the end of the tunnel, mobility restrictions are likely to remain in place for some time. these restrictions have confronted us all with unparalleled challenges in our personal and professional lives. in response, the world has taken a giant leap forward in terms of digitalisation. and when the public health situation finally improves, we will not go back to the old normal. working from home has become the norm for many of us. we have adjusted our way of life. and while we will certainly enjoy regaining our ability to move and interact freely, we will also learn lessons from the pandemic and see benefits from how we adapted to it. the digital transformation is here to stay. but for digitalisation to contribute to economic resilience beyond the pandemic, cyber resilience will be paramount. otherwise, digitalisation may increase risks rather than reduce them. today i will argue that this applies to the financial sector in particular and i will discuss the necessary policy response. digitalisation and the resilience of the financial sector : lessons from the pandemic digitalisation is transforming financial services and consumers ’ behaviour2. as our recently published study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area ( space ) 3shows, almost half of euro area adults now prefer to pay digitally. and the more europe ’ s citizens rely on digital payment initiation – be it by card, credit transfer or direct debit – the more europe ’ s businesses rely on the underlying financial infrastructures or the clearing and final settlement of these

mr duisenberg ’ s speech at the 11th frankfurt international banking evening speech by the president of the european central bank, dr w f duisenberg at the 11th frankfurt international banking evening in frankfurt on 20 may 1999. it is indeed an honour for me to have been invited to say a few words here this evening at the frankfurt international banking evening. at the same time, it is more than a challenge and a rather daunting task. speaking after hans tietmeyer is almost like preaching after the pope. moreover, i believe it is well known by now that the members of the governing council of the ecb speak with one voice. so, what does that leave me to say? some have taken this principle of “ speaking with one voice ” to mean that there would only be one spokesperson for the ecb. that is a misunderstanding. each of the members of the governing council of the ecb has a voice and makes use of it. it is essential for the decisions and views of the governing council to be explained comprehensively throughout the euro area as well as outside it and multiple expression is one way to do it. this is particularly so in these early years following the introduction of the euro. after i had given a speech in german, theo waigel once observed, “ the euro speaks german. ” he was right, of course, but the euro actually speaks the languages of all the other countries in the eurosystem. we speak with one voice but, if need be, in eleven languages. this evening we are speaking english, although hans quoted an advertisement in dutch in which i appear. i shall presently also speak two sentences in german. incidentally, hans could also have referred to another advertisement in which a puppet - according to some people, a president of the ecb look - alike - is doing some basic arithmetic. he calculates that if 1 euro is 2 guilders and 20 cents then 2 euro are 4 guilders and 40 cents. at the ecb our sums are rather more complicated than that, but hans rightly argued that central bankers cannot be replaced by computers. neither should the second advertisement be taken as an argument for replacing central bankers by puppets, especially not with their strings being pulled by ministers of finance. we, the members of the governing council of the ecb, speak with one voice, but not all voices are identical. how can they be, since they belong to different individuals? we are not in the business of producing clones. earlier this