coin, ubs ’ s utility settlement coin or facebook ’ s libra. they share many of the features of crypto - assets but seek to stabilise the price of the “ coin ” by various means. they might therefore be more capable of contributing to the enhancement of payment systems, with a potentially global reach, especially those sponsored by large technology or financial firms. in the retail market, stablecoin - based solutions seek to address evolving consumer preferences towards instantaneous, continuous, and standardized payments, as consumers become ever more mobile. while this demand is largely already met through an increasingly diversified and digitalised supply by many payment services providers – be they new entrants or established players -, stablecoins could challenge the latter by offering cheaper, easier and instant anonymous and peer - to - peer payments. in addition, at the global level, we are far from having a network ( or set of interconnected networks ) that could support quick and cheap 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches transfers of funds. the current supply of cashless means of payment lacks a universal and ergonomic cross - border solution akin to cash person - to - person payments. stablecoins could be seen as a “ universal ” means of payment facilitating cross - borders payments in a single unit of account. as we know, this is an argument put forward by some global stablecoins promoters. furthermore, stablecoins could help remedy other limits of the existing payment ecosystem, even if the issues at stake might concretely vary between developed and developing countries. in particular, their blockchain - based technology could help improve wholesale clearing and settlement mechanisms and facilitate delivery - versus - payment processes as well as cross currency settlements, while guaranteeing resilience and recovery from operational incidents. however, stablecoins may also bring material risks to payment systems. as many central bankers have pointed out, stablecoins do not satisfactorily offer the qualities expected from a settlement asset to be used interchangeably with commercial bank money and central bank money. as intermediaries in exchanges, stablecoins are far less effective than a settlement asset with legal tender status, insofar as ( i ) they are not entirely stable since their price stability depends on the value of a basket of assets, and ( ii ) they offer no guarantee of a refund in the event of fraud. the fact that they have no intrinsic value and that they offer no guarantee that they may be converted at par upon demand

11th international insurance conference paris, 25 october 2019 “ insuring in the long term in a short - term world ” speech by francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the banque de france chairman of the acpr press contact : mark deen ( mark. deen @ banque - france. fr ). page 1 of 6 madam president, ladies and gentlemen i am delighted to participate in this 11th international insurance conference. this will be my fourth time at this unmissable annual event, but the first for you, florence. bernard delas and i would like to offer you our warmest wishes for success at the head of the federation francaise de l ’ assurance ( ffa – french insurance federation ). for our part, changes are also underway and i would like to take the opportunity this evening to welcome the appointment of dominique laboureix as secretary general of the acpr, with first deputy secretary general, patrick montagner, whom you know well, at his side. the subject of your 11th conference – “ insuring in the long term in a shortterm world ” – perfectly sums up the real challenge to the insurance profession. i would like to begin by thanking france ’ s 712 authorised insurers that never waver in playing their key role in the financing of our economy, with eur 2, 600 billion of investments. in 2018, france became the leading european insurance market, outpacing the united kingdom and germany in terms of total balance sheet value and non - life premiums earned. the french insurance market has also enjoyed strong growth, with revenue up by almost 3 % [ 2. 7 % and 3. 1 % in non - life and life insurance, respectively ]. in response to the legitimate concerns that many of you have raised, i have chosen to focus on two main issues : the challenge of low interest rates ( i ) and our ambition for the solvency ii review ( ii ). * * * i. the challenge of low interest rates a. the economic situation compels us to keep interest rates low i recently marked out the limits that i believe should be set for monetary policy. i thus feel all the more obliged to clarify why the low interest rates are needed, why they are going to continue, and how we have to adapt to them together. i hear your concerns with regard to low interest rates, and i fully understand them. however, it is important not to lose sight of the long - term perspective :