24. 05. 2017 welcome address i conference on financial stability / banco de espana - cemfi luis m. linde governor good morning ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this first conference on financial stability, jointly organised by the banco de espana and the centro de estudios monetarios y financieros ( cemfi ). thank you very much for your interest in and attendance at the conference. we have a very interesting agenda for today and tomorrow, structured around six sessions and a panel discussion covering a wide range of topics related to the theory and policy practice of financial stability. this event is bringing together distinguished speakers and discussants from central banks, international financial institutions and academia - a combination which will offer a diversity of perspectives and also ensure a lively and, for sure, interesting debate over the next two days. this conference has been possible thanks to the joint effort of banco de espana and cemfi. i am very grateful to the organisers, in particular to rafael repullo, director of cemfi, as well as to all the members of the scientific committee responsible for promoting this meeting and selecting the papers to be presented in the programme. this event has aroused particular interest among researchers, with - i am told - nearly one hundred papers having been submitted for just twelve slots. with this auspicious start, i trust this conference may become a regular forum of dialogue between researchers and policy - makers : central banks and financial supervisory authorities have many things to learn from the research carried out in academia, away from the frequent policy - making urgencies that drive the daily workload in our institutions. financial stability and macroprudential policy the last crisis generated a good deal of issues to be dealt with by authorities with a role in financial stability. the experience gained over recent years has shown the importance of safeguarding the stability of the financial system as a whole. we now understand that this ambitious task requires the use of sophisticated analytical tools to identify vulnerabilities at an early stage and anticipate how potential shocks can propagate across the financial system. to this end, both micro and macroeconomic methodologies can offer valid insights, and this is why the conference programme intends to offer a mix of both approaches. one of the most relevant and obvious legacies from the crisis is the introduction of a fullyfledged macroprudential policy framework. as we all know, macroprudential policy has, essentially, a

and assistance in the digital transition. naturally, we will have to analyse the practical implementation and sufficiency of the protocol in the coming months. however, beyond the banking sector ’ s response, if society is to derive maximum benefit from digitalisation while minimising the costs of the transition, i believe that a comprehensive response is required from the public authorities. a response which surely transcends the financial sphere, to which the financial authorities can no doubt make an important contribution. that is why we are going to focus precisely on improving digital skills in the coming years using, for example, the financial education plan launched jointly by the ministry of economic affairs and 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches digital transformation, the cnmv and the banco de espana. because we are fully aware that digital literacy is also part of our financial education. that is also why the banco de espana has long identified the economic and population differences in urban and rural areas ( also in terms of access to general services and, more specifically, to banking services ) as phenomena that warrant priority analytical attention. such analysis must provide the basis for informed decision - making. our most recent annual report, presented before parliament last year, included a chapter dedicated to these issues. in the coming months we shall present the findings of several studies which examine in depth the phenomenon of financial exclusion in relation to digitalisation processes. specifically, we are going to present a comparative study of access to cash in spain and in other euro area countries, focusing particularly on the differences between rural and urban areas. we will also provide a detailed picture of access to digital banking services in spain and recent developments in this area. lastly, we will conduct a review of the action taken to combat financial exclusion nationally and internationally, which may prove a good platform for future actions in our country. to conclude, i would simply like to thank again the deputy prime minister and the ministry for their efforts to address this problem. and the banking associations for their agile and swift response in drafting and signing this protocol. and, of course, i would like to thank the individuals who have made us more aware of the problem and whose actions have prompted this rapid response. i believe that we should all aim to ensure that spain continues to take the lead on financial inclusion in the digital era, as it has always done. and i would like to add that the banco de espana is firmly committed to this goal and that we will do everything within our power to attain it. thank you very much