denis beau : staying the course through stormy weather - confidence to support innovation speech by mr denis beau, first deputy governor of the bank of france, at the fintech r : evolution 2023, paris, 19 october 2023. * * * ladies and gentlemen, first of all, i would like to start by thanking the france fintech association and its president alain clot for inviting me to participate again in this major event for the french fintech ecosystem. the current environment is clearly less conducive to fundraising for start - ups. this turbulence in the fintech ecosystem reflects the recent deterioration in the economic and financial environment. indeed, the euro area economy has been affected by an unprecedented series of shocks. these shocks, associated in particular with russia's unjustifiable war in ukraine and the lockdown in china, have resulted in a slowdown in growth and an acceleration in inflation. however, in france, this phenomenon, known as " slow - flation ", has not yet turned into " stagflation ", or a recession. according to our most recent projections, economic activity in our country should grow at a moderate rate in 2023, before recovering in 2024 and 2025. in other words, the central scenario of our projection is that the french economy will gradually recover from inflation without falling into recession, even though the economic slowdown will be marked. although times are gloomy, there is every reason to remain confident about the medium - term outlook. and i would like to tell you this morning that trust is built day by day, on the one hand by consolidating the foundations to strengthen the resilience of the ecosystem, and on the other hand by anticipating the future to develop an efficient and innovative financial sector based on sound fundamentals. * * * i / consolidating the foundations means preparing as well as possible for the many operational risks that fintechs face, and which will be subject to more stringent regulation in the near future. 1 / cyber risk is a good example of such risks, and of the need to be prepared. the european financial sector is increasingly being targeted by cyber - attacks, and cyber risk has become the greatest operational risk for financial companies. in this context, the european digital operational resilience act ( dora - published in december 2022 ) aims to strengthen the resilience of the sector ; it will apply to all financial entities as from january 2025. in addition to the current

requirements for good governance of the information system, institutions will have to carry out regular operational resilience tests and report major incidents. 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches despite many new elements, dora reinforces a principle that is as old as it is fundamental : financial institutions remain responsible for their risks. they therefore need to remain in control of the entire subcontracting chain, regularly audit their it service providers, and establish exit strategies. the adaptation period for dora is short, so we need to work together to prepare ourselves. for institutions, this means reviewing all existing service contracts, renegotiating some of them, and undertaking as quickly as possible the work required to produce the new reports, in order to finalise compliance with dora before january 2025. for its part, the acpr will continue to interact with the financial community in order to identify any operational difficulties that may arise. in this respect, i would encourage you to take part in the new public consultation on the dora implementing texts, which is due to be held before the end of the year. 2 / as regards digital assets, the gradual entry into force between december 2023 and december 2024 of the markets in crypto - assets regulation ( mica ) will naturally steer the necessary consolidation work. my main message here is that we need to anticipate the entry into force of mica. for players planning to issue stablecoins, anticipating means contacting the acpr, and i invite them to do so now. you can apply for electronic money institution ( emi ) status, which will allow you to start issuing digital assets as soon as mica comes into force, within a secure framework. this is especially important as there will be no transitional phase here : as of 30 june 2024, the provisions of the regulation relating to token issuance will apply immediately. second, to current crypto - asset service providers ( casps ) and to those planning to provide such services in the future, i say that it is time to apply for authorisation. this would enable most of the mica provisions to be met in advance. above all, in a context recently affected by increased bankruptcies, this is the best way to restore consumer and investor confidence. 3 / also with regard to crypto - assets, we need to consolidate measures to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism ( aml / cft ), particularly in view of the entry into force of the european transfer of funds regulation ( t