now concur in forecasting low inflation, whereas previously an inflation rate that was far from the objective was associated with a wide dispersion of expectations. this would suggest that low - flation is no longer regarded as an anomaly, but increasingly as the norm. 29 lower and less widely dispersed inflation expectations entail a risk they will become de - anchored, so that observed future inflation will be more likely to remain low. these trends are reflected in wage negotiations. on several occasions between late 2015 and early 2016, the social partners in italy did not take inflation expectations into account in their negotiations, 30 so that many of the contracts signed at the time either ignored inflation or underutilized labour includes part - time workers ( who would be willing to work longer hours ), job - seekers not immediately available and discouraged workers ( those willing to work but no longer actively job - seeking ). the number of hours worked per employee is still 4 per cent below the pre - crisis average. bulligan, guglielminetti and viviano ( 2017 ). nominal wages grew on average by 1. 3 per cent from 2013, well below the pre - crisis rate. cf. busetti, ferrero, gerali and locarno ( 2014 ). cf. bartiloro, bottone and rosolia ( 2017 ). this is also due to an attempt by firms to recoup at least part of the pay rises paid in 2013 - 15 over and above observed inflation. included automatic ex - post wage indexation. in other cases the renewal of expired agreements was postponed. as a result, less than a fifth of the labour contracts in force at the end of 2016 included expected inflation among the parameters for calculating pay rises. thus, the data indicate that labour is still a widely underutilized factor of production and that inflation expectations reflect the deflationary shocks of recent years. these are cyclical problems, not structural ones. 4. monetary policy implications these considerations explain and justify the eurosystem ’ s current expansionary monetary policy stance, which is designed to stimulate demand, increase factor utilization and exert upward pressure on wages. the goal is to secure a self - sustained return of the inflation rate towards levels that are below but close to 2 per cent, one that is not solely based on current policies or on temporary factors like oil prices. as president draghi has pointed out, this requires trust in the effects of monetary policy, persistence in pursuing the objective, and

finance appears to require fresh thinking, more data, deeper analysis, and, quite possibly, new policy instruments. fintech opens financial intermediation and credit markets to new players and, at the same time, is bound to change the way traditional intermediaries operate. it can expand access to financial services, increase competition and efficiency, by lower transaction costs ; but it may also mean that old risks take new forms and that new ( or substantially increased ) risks, such as cyber risk, arise. detecting such evolving and emerging risks requires understanding and closely monitoring fintech activities, especially with a view to closing regulatory loopholes : among them deviations from the key principle that the same risk should be subject, in effect, to the same regulatory and supervisory treatment, regardless of the nature of the agent and its technical means of operation. there is substantial scope for international cooperation and coordination in these fields because developments in asset management and fintech tend to cross borders quite easily. there is also a lot to be done in cooperation between different authorities. international coordinating bodies, such as the financial stability board, are the natural fora for the authorities to elaborate common strategies. i shall first review the benefits of non - bank finance ; then i shall highlight the potential sources of systemic risk, particularly those from asset managers, and make some considerations about how they are being / should be approached by the supervisory authorities. i shall also touch upon the potential risks from fintech. as testified by the agenda for these two days of discussion, these issues are relevant for countries facing very different economic and financial conditions. the benefits of a diversified financial system the role of non - bank finance in the global economy has been increasing, and is now at least as significant as that of banks. data collected by the financial stability board ( fsb ) show that at the end of 2017 the assets of non - bank financial intermediaries reached 180 trillion dollars, about 48 percent of the global financial sector ’ s total assets ; the assets of banks accounted for 39 percent of the total. 2 fsb, global monitoring report on non - bank financial intermediation 2018, 4 february 2019. the data refer to 21 countries and the euro area, and include insurance companies, pension funds and other financial intermediaries. the non - bank financial sector includes a variety of intermediaries. some of them perform credit intermediation functions, either issuing loans directly or facilitating credit provision through financial market instruments ; others support equity financing in various ways. in