, for example, allowing merchants to enhance profitability by selling goods and services online, or indeed driving exports. however, the benefits go hand in hand with new risks and invites new thinking on how to preserve fundamentals such as consumer privacy and security, as well as how to preserve monetary and financial stability. amidst this background, we must consider how policy - makers can best support the development of a fintech ecosystem, but doing so in a safe manner. how are we as a regulator embracing these challenge? like many other central banks, we have already embarked on a digital journey. considering our role in the oversight of the financial system and preserving financial stability, we must look forward and anticipate emerging trends so that we can react proactively. accordingly, we have widened the list of the strategic objectives of the national bank that now explicitly incorporate support of technological progress and financial innovations, as well as financial literacy as important tool for protection of consumers in the fintech environment. regulators cannot control nor predict what innovation will look like in the future. however, given the benefits it brings, regulators can contribute to the development of a fintech ecosystem by creating an enabling environment for the entry of new products or 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches new players into the financial services market. usually, regulation is seen as a significant challenge for fintech - led transformation. in this context, together with the ministry of finance, we have put a lot of effort to significantly update payment services regulation, which is currently going through a legislative approval process. the new legal framework for payment services embodies objectives that seek to foster innovation while ensuring a level playing field for all players, including newcomers. an important step in the same direction are efforts for digital identity verification of consumers that has a significant potential to drive greater levels of financial inclusion and financial accessibility. regulators can enable, encourage and support innovations in financial services, by providing regulatory certainty and clarity. considering this, in the national bank we established the so - called " innovation gateway ", to serve as a central point of contact and communication channel between innovators in the financial industry, the central bank, and other relevant authorities. to better understand the fintech state of play in our economy we conducted the first national survey and prepared a feasibility study, which clearly underline the opportunities and benefits that fintech can bring to our country, as well as the barriers that need to be overcome for further development. the main conclusion of the feasibility study that follows the survey

the euro area was more modest, with the policy interest rate falling from 4. 75 % to 2 % over the same period. since mid - 2004 the fed has raised its policy rate by a cumulative 375 basis points, while the ecb started to raise rates only in late 2005 and since then has increased them by 50 basis points. against this background, i would like to address the following questions : how can these differences in the pattern of policy rates in the two currency areas be explained? do they reflect differences in the monetary policy strategies adopted by the two central banks or deeper differences in the structure and dynamism of the two economies? the observation that the policy rate has been much less volatile in the euro area than in the us can certainly not provide reliable information on the strategy of the two central banks, nor can it prove that the monetary policy of the ecb has been too gradual, or not sufficiently active. to answer these questions, it is crucial to assess policy moves against the prevailing state and structure of the respective economy. some early research undertaken by ecb watchers already addressed this topic. 1 some more recent work undertaken by ecb staff has provided further insights that i believe are worth discussing today. the common theme of this work is that the causes of the different behaviour of policy rates in the euro area and the us over the last years can mainly be found in the following two factors. first, shocks of a different nature and pattern have hit the two economies, generating an unfavourable trade - off between inflation and output in the euro area, while the us economy was supported by rather strong productivity improvements. second, the structure of the two economies is very different – mainly with respect to the degree of market flexibility – producing different effects in the two areas in response to similar shocks, with specific implications for monetary policy. this interpretation does not deny the presence of some differences in the policy framework adopted in the two currency areas. for instance, the ecb ’ s primary objective of price stability and its mediumterm orientation imply scepticism regarding the appropriateness and efficacy of fine - tuning policies. in addition, the importance of monetary analysis in providing early warnings of price instability in the future, the strength of the central bank ’ s reaction to inflation expectations and the response of the yield curve to policy changes would indeed normally translate into differences in the setting of the policy instrument. however, these factors seem to be of minor importance when dealing with the specific criticism that has been voiced