janet l yellen : remarks at the ceremonial swearing - in remarks by ms janet l yellen, chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the ceremonial swearing - in at the federal reserve board, washington dc, 5 march 2014. * * * good afternoon. thank you dan, and thank you to everyone gathered here and others throughout the system who are listening in. to members of congress, secretary lew and others from the administration and fellow financial regulatory agencies who are with us today, welcome to the federal reserve. many friends and family of mine are here, including my spouse, george, my brother, john, and my sister - in - law, alison. i am honored also to welcome back former chairman greenspan. i want to particularly thank president obama for the honor of being asked to lead the federal reserve and carry on its important work. when i accepted his offer, i promised the president i would do my very best, working with my fed colleagues, to help restore the health of the economy and promote a strong and stable financial system. i am repeating this promise, in this distinguished company and to all others listening because that is what this ceremony is about. the oath i have affirmed, identical to the one taken by everyone serving the federal reserve, is a public promise to carry out my duties guided by no interest other than the public ’ s interest. today ’ s event comes, as many of you know, a busy month after i began my duties as chair. in that short time, the board has taken significant steps to further strengthen financial regulation, and i have discharged one of my most important responsibilities, accounting for the fed ’ s actions and explaining its policies in our semi - annual report to congress. i ’ ll do more of that explaining in two weeks, when i respond to questions from the media after the next meeting of the federal open market committee. such communication is vital in a democracy and especially important for the federal reserve, which relies on the confidence of the public to be effective in carrying out its mission. chairman bernanke initiated press conferences in 2011 as one of a number of steps to make the federal reserve more transparent and accountable, and i promise to build on his legacy. since 2010, when chairman bernanke stood where i stand today, we have made considerable progress. the economy is stronger and the financial system is sounder. we have come a long way, but we have farther to go. more work lies ahead to complete implementation of

/ 07 / behind - the - scenes - of - central - bankdigital - currency - 512174. - 4preparing for the payment system of the future the federal reserve needs to be preparing for the payment landscape of the future even as we continue to make improvements to meet today ’ s needs. in light of the rapid digitalization of the financial system, the federal reserve has been thinking critically about whether there is a role for a potential u. s. central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) in the digital payment landscape of the future and about its potential properties, costs, and benefits. our financial and payment system delivers important benefits today and is continuing to improve with developments like real - time payments. nonetheless, certain challenges remain, such as a lack of access to digital banking and payment services for some americans and expensive and slow cross - border payments. growing interest in the digital financial ecosystem suggests that technology is enabling potential improvements that merit consideration. 10 in addition, it is important to consider how new forms of crypto - assets and digital money may affect the federal reserve ’ s responsibilities to maintain financial stability, a safe and efficient payment system, household and business access to safe central bank money, and maximum employment and price stability. it is prudent to explore whether there is a role for a cbdc to preserve some of the safe and effective elements of the financial system of the present in a way that is complementary to the private sector innovations transforming the financial landscape of the future. the public and private sector play important complementary roles within the financial system in the united states. from fedwire to fednow, the federal reserve has lael brainard “ the future of retail payments in the united states ” ( speech at the fednow service webinar, washington, d. c., august 6, 2020 ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / speech / brainard20200806a. htm. - 5over a century of experience working to improve the infrastructure of the u. s. payment system to provide a resilient and adaptable foundation for dynamic private sector activity. 11 in parallel, private sector banks and nonbanks have competed to build the best possible products and services on top of that foundation and to meet the dollardenominated needs of consumers and investors at home and around the world. the result is a resilient payment system that is responsive to the changing needs of businesses,