of its kind in europe, is set to be a regulatory response to the game - changing finance and payment landscape. in addition, several jurisdictions have introduced regulatory sandboxes, innovation hubs or accelerators in order to promote innovation and improve interactions with new fintech firms. in general, the policy actions have been mostly focused on strengthening consumer and investor protection, market integrity, increasing financial inclusion and encouraging competition. the ongoing regulatory changes, in turn are conducive to rising interest in regtech - new technological solutions helping financial industry to better manage their compliance obligations. as an impetus for innovation and responding to the rising challenges, the national bank and the ministry of finance have continued joint activities on the draft law on payment services and payment systems, which transposes the psd2 as well as other relevant european union regulations in the payments area. the very broad and ambitious scope of the new law makes it one of the most significant and comprehensive pieces of financial services legislation. it embodies objectives that seek to make payments safer, increase consumer protection and foster innovation while ensuring a level playing field for all players, including newcomers. following the examples of other central banks, we are also in the process of creating an innovation hub for closely monitoring of fintech developments, interacting with institutions that plan to launch new services, which will help them better understand the regulatory environment, but it will also help us adequately comprehend the fintech developments, assessing the risks and possibly recalibrating the regulatory framework. to sum up, innovation in digital finance, underpinning the nexus between digitalization and finance, offers wide - ranging opportunities, which authorities are keen to foster. it holds the promise of reducing costs and frictions, increasing efficiency and competition, narrowing information asymmetry, and broadening access to financial services – especially in low - income 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches countries and for underserved populations. ongoing innovations and technological advances support broader economic development and inclusive growth, facilitate international payments and remittances, and simplify and strengthen regulatory compliance and supervisory processes. at the same time, authorities are concerned about potential risks posed to the financial system and to its customers. moreover, the adoption process may also pose transition challenges, and policy vigilance will be needed to make economies resilient and inclusive, so as to capture the full benefits. in response, policymaking will need to be nimble, innovative, and cooperative and importantly will need to strike the right balance between enabling

agreement forced on the greek people? did they have a choice? it is a political agreement between the 19 heads of state or government of the euro area that strikes a balance between two legitimate concerns – the mandate of mr tsipras, who was elected on a certain programme, and the fact that this programme is partially financed by the other euro area countries and their taxpayers, who also have the right to express their point of view. the important thing is that greece and its partners trust each other again. on this basis, there will be room for manoeuvre when it comes to adapting the programme after the elections, for example in terms of labour market reforms and tackling vested interests, provided that the objectives of the programme are met. you talk about unemployment, but the ecb is supposedly only worried about inflation … when inflation is weak, the best way to bring it up to the 2 % objective is to support economic activity. today, therefore, growth and employment are prerequisites for price stability. there is no contradiction. are the days of foolish finance over? bis central bankers ’ speeches not entirely. the ecb is strongly committed to financial stability. european citizens should not be subjected to the ups and downs of the financial markets. this also requires financial actors to behave in a reasonable manner and respect the rules. a lot of work has been done since the crisis to make these rules stricter and banks stronger. however, i think it is still necessary to increase the personal responsibility of financial actors. banks ’ senior managers must be accountable for the operations carried out by their teams. this is the only way to avoid certain abuses, such as the manipulation of indices for speculative purposes. you want a more integrated euro area. this implies more sovereignty being transferred from member countries to europe. are people ready for this? more integration will make europe more effective. in a globalised world, france cannot stand alone ; it is too small, regardless of its great history and many talents. but we cannot force people into this. europe will first have to demonstrate its usefulness by creating more growth and more jobs. but when you see the “ every man for himself ” approach to the migrant crisis, do you not despair of europe? it is true that each country ’ s initial reaction followed national instincts. however, coordinated efforts are now gradually being made, and they will continue to evolve. i think that this crisis, which deeply moves us all, will actually be a wake - up call that makes