that in the wake of such fundamental changes, like the one currently transforming the swedish retail payments market, new questions keep arising. with change, there will be winners and losers. in this case the winners are the swedes who have adapted to electronic payment means. losers are the ones who want, or for some reason need, to keep on using cash and who increasingly find themselves in a world where access to cash, and acceptance of cash, are on the decline. this creates a new challenge for society. this change needs to be managed. for a central banker, the transformation of the retail payments market also implies a more fundamental question. if cash basically disappears, then the general public will lose access to central bank money – they will only have access to commercial bank money. is that a good outcome? responding to this, the riksbank has decided to analyse a “ possible do ”. should we issue an electronic currency? an e - krona? we have given ourselves about two years to come up with an initial answer to this question. one possible outcome is that we as central bank in some sense will ourselves become an innovator. moreover, what we eventually decide to do is likely to affect the possibilities and business cases for different financial innovations in more general terms and have possible repercussions on many other aspects of central banking, such as monetary policy and financial stability. to conclude, i believe that a central bank has an important role to play. what we do, and what we do not do, will affect the pace and the substance of innovation in the financial system. i believe this to also apply to the regulatory community in general. we can talk about the promise of innovation, but we also need to walk the talk – that is to make decisions that balance innovation, stability and growth. that will by necessity involve deciding upon a suitable degree of public and regulatory intervention. there will be winners and losers from these decisions. making the decisions, and finding that balance, is a major challenge, but it is also an unavoidable challenge. 4

that was made available to the uk during the period from 1964 to 1977. the scheme was undertaken under the auspice of broader international initiatives, and the two central banks, in particular, were in very close cooperation. for details, please refer to the handout of a historical summary of major events that involved the uk - japan relationship. in this regard, i would also like to refer to some of the bank of england ’ s collections that are displayed in the showcase. the collections are commemorative of relations between the bank of england and japan as a whole. they are made available here today kindly by mr. keyworth, the archivist of the bank of england. concluding remarks finally, let me move from the past to the future. the future is always uncertain, but some current trends and changes can be certain in the future as well. among them are globalization and the advancement of communications technology. it is true that these things will reduce notional distance between countries, but nobody would deny the importance of direct face - to - face interactions between people in the market. as far as we understand it, the very strength of the london market comes from such direct face - to - face interactions between market participants, who work here in financial, accounting, legal and other related businesses. the london market attracts the best and brightest professionals and management from all over the world. in fact, their close interactions generate the dynamism of market development. that is why the bank of japan highly values information and insights that our london office gains from direct contacts here. moreover, that is why the bank of japan sees our london office as one of the important channels of communication to market participants. in concluding, i thank again, all the guests, predecessors and your institutions for the 100 - year - long friendship and cooperation. and i am convinced that this established good relationship will continue for another century. there is no “ exit policy ” from london. i wish all the best for each of you. thank you.