various entities beyond geographical limitations. the digital world, although not something that is peculiar to metaverse, has the potential to create new combinations of businesses and consumers. as consumers will be able to access a variety of businesses without being limited by where they live, they will find it easier to receive the services that best meet their needs. such an environment will incentivize businesses to design and launch brand - new, superior services. as businesses whose activities were once limited by geographical conditions are now able to access a broader market, they are also more likely to be able to commercialize services which meet the niche demands of consumers, thereby providing consumers with more choices. such a possibility is also the case for financial services — a greater variety of financial services will be provided to more people through digital channels. for example, some firms have already 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches launched internet - based multilingual remittance services for foreigners working or studying in japan. as a decline in japan ’ s population is anticipated going forward, especially in nonmetropolitan areas, there will be a growing need for digital technology as a means of providing financial services in underpopulated areas. one thing to keep in mind is that it is difficult, nor is it right, for all financial businesses to provide homogeneous digital services to consumers. there is no homogeneity in the ability of businesses to offer digital services, nor in the degree to which consumers accept digital services. in addition, consumers are not homogeneous in what they look for in services. we can expect to see more and more new combinations of consumers that actively use digital services and businesses that cater to their diverse needs. that being said, it is also important there are businesses that offer services tailored to the needs of consumers that prefer non - digital services. by strengthening the combination of consumers and businesses through digital channels, our society as a whole should not overlook various potential needs. this in turn is likely to lead to an increase in the japanese economy ’ s growth potential. it is essential to have global perspectives in advancing digital services. it is a good thing that businesses provide finely - tuned services for the specific needs of domestic customers. however, potential business areas may not be expandable if services are optimized to be competitive only in the japanese market without taking into account global technical and societal trends — this is the so - called galapagos syndrome. this would make it difficult for businesses to improve services by incorporating global trends or to evolve services

. for example the bank lent £61. 5bn to rbs and hbos in 2008 - 9, and its market - wide special liquidity scheme peaked at £185bn in 2009. more recently, the balance sheet expansion has primarily reflected outright asset purchases and long - term lending schemes of unprecedented scale and duration, designed to deliver monetary stability when interest rates are close to zero. other major countries have seen increases of similar scale : chart 3 for example compares the expansion in the bank ’ s balance sheet with that of the us federal reserve. these expansions, though primarily focused on maintaining monetary rather than financial stability, are arguably further examples of the central bank as firefighter : injecting liquidity when other market - based channels are blocked. chart 4 shows how closely the increase in the size of the bank ’ s balance sheet mirrors the decrease in the scale of sterling lending to households and firms by uk banks in recent years : a strikingly similar picture to the stylised relationship in chart 1. for a discussion, see for instance ian plenderleith ’ s review of the bank of england ’ s provision of emergency liquidity assistance in 2008 – 09 ( http : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / publications / documents / news / 2012 / cr1plenderleith. pdf ). see john, s, roberts, m and weeken, o, ‘ the bank of england ’ s special liquidity scheme ’ ( http : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / publications / documents / quarterlybulletin / qb120105. pdf ). all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches chart 4 : uk central and commercial bank chart 5 : permanent shift in the bank ’ s firefighter role? balance sheets risk tolerance private financial system percentage of annual nominal gdp financial institutions - lending to private non - financial sector ( a ) bank of england ( b ) open for business unconventional central banks mp normal conditions liquidity crisis degree of systemic stress sources : bank of england, ons ( a ) data as at february. sterling net lending to non - financial corporations and household sector. ( b ) data as at february. final data point shows the latest published balance sheet data, at 29 february 2016, plus the increase in the loan to the asset purchase facility since this time. the financial instruments underpinning these expansions tend not to be particularly complex when