linked to the average annual change in the economy - wide wage level. from today ’ s perspective, this is undoubtedly the right solution, which is to be viewed as a precondition for a more consistent and sustainable pension system, dissociated from political cycles. or rather – as one of the necessary preconditions. and clearly not sufficient. after carrying out comprehensive research, we came to the conclusion that changes which ( should we commit to implementing them ) would increase transparency of the pension system, boost motivation to participate in the social security net and reduce incentives for acting in the shadow, are both necessary and possible. people need clarity. if, on our virtual personal account, we could see how much we would accumulate for our future pension given our official wage “ on paper ”, everyone would think twice before agreeing to take payments “ under the table ”. this would not cost much and would not require particular expenses or long - term investments. yet, it would bring us closer to a few of our basic goals. it would improve the situation of sodra. more importantly – it would enhance the financial situation of each future pensioner. and, most importantly, it would change our understanding of what social security is and whom – the authorities or the insurance policy holder as well – it is necessary for. one more thing that we need to keep in mind when discussing this reform – we must see the pension system as an integral whole. this implies not making artificial divisions between its elements ( pillars ). i mentioned education. i am not going to argue for what is obvious. income possibilities are directly linked to the possibilities for achieving quality education. meanwhile, insufficient utilisation of the human capital potential increases the risk of getting stuck in the “ average income trap ” without having caught up with the wealthier western economies. this is why i hope that in our today ’ s discussions on the causes of income inequality and the possible solutions, we will also focus on this, i dare say, essential pillar. we have been hearing about the necessity of reforming the education system nearly as long as we can remember. however, today we really are at the “ either – or ” point, when we must undertake essential reforms. with these reforms, we must make sure that the bulk of money allocated to the sector is used to ensure high quality education in the whole country rather than just maintaining the existing infrastructure. this is the piece of advice that we constantly receive from various international organisations. 3 / 4 bis central

amse | aix - marseille school of economics marseille, 11 december 2018 speech by denis beau first deputy governor “ trends in financial intermediation and implications for the regulation and supervision of the european financial sector ” 1 / 9 ladies and gentlemen, dear students, it ’ s a pleasure to be at the aix - marseille school of economics today to discuss the trends affecting a key channel of the financing of the real economy : financial intermediation. this topic is well chosen the year of the tenth anniversary of both lehman bankruptcy and nakamoto ’ s paper underlying the bitcoin. this is not just a coincidence. for crypto - assets ’ proponents, the “ old world ” of bank - centric financial intermediation failed in 2008 and had to be replaced by disintermediated peer - to - peer systems like bitcoin. where do we stand now? central bankers, regulators and supervisors have worked to strengthen the traditional bank centric model of intermediation, and the highly intensive finalisation of basel iii has concluded ten years of regulatory efforts in that field. banks are stronger and more resilient than before 2008. at the same time, quite ironically, the bitcoin itself has generated the biggest bubble ever, which is now bursting. so, in 2018, are there new developments in financial intermediation? yes, indeed. a number of factors contribute to push the european bank - centric model towards a more diversified, unbundled financial intermediation model. hence, i will focus the first part of my presentation on those drivers and their impact on financial intermediation ( i ). i will then highlight the financial risks that go hand - in - hand with the changes underway ( ii ). finally, i would like to emphasise that a safe move towards a more diversified intermediation model as we see it developing cannot be achieved without further financial integration at european level. to that end, advancing the european regulatory agenda is of prime importance ( iii ). 1. from bank - centric financial intermediation towards unbundled financial intermediation in the digital era to date, in europe, we have been accustomed to a bank - centric intermediation model. however, this model is being increasingly challenged by new players emerging in the digital era, the so - called fintechs and bigtechs, as well as by the growing weight of the asset management industry. we thus need to prepare to new intermediation models,