. however, support for it had already been weakening for some time, in advanced countries at least, in connection with a growing sense of lopsidedness, unfairness and alienation among many people. whatever the objective economic details this time ( and they are not as one - sided as they are sometimes understood to be ), one is tempted to search for similar undercurrents of estrangement during the years that led to the end of the two previous episodes. there are deep and difficult questions about globalisation reversals, which include but are not limited to economic issues. they cannot be discussed here to any meaningful extent. so let us just look at the facts. international tensions over trade, capital flows and exchange rates have emerged forcefully in the past few years. multilateralism has been in retreat. the return to a strategic use of customs duties, the difficulties world leaders find in agreeing on shared policy goals, and the problems encountered by the wto are all signs of this process. few economists welcome them. the pandemic is now placing globalisation at an even more anxiety - generating crossroads. one cannot deny that increased flows of people and goods accelerated cross - country contagion. in the short term, as our virtual conference exemplifies, global mobility has shrunk dramatically. in the longer term, a question mark hangs over the international division of labour, with many pointing to a potential trade - off between efficiency and resilience ( or safety ), and potential tensions between the winners and losers of reshoring. if people and governments become convinced once again that it is but a zerosum game, the consequences can be serious. however, as so often in the economics of exchange, it is not a zero - sum game. good economic reasoning and creative research must be key ingredients of the conversation. this seminar will benefit from the insights provided by many first - rate economists, and address a number of interesting questions. one paper, for instance, discusses how the switch from a multilateral to a bilateral approach to trade affects the transmission of monetary policy. another provides evidence on the link between trade, commodity prices, financial markets and monetary policy, through a comparison of the global transmission of chinese and us monetary policy. ( a pity, though, that the euro area is not covered ). other topics include the impact of capital flows on the real economy, the implications of a dominant currency for monetary cooperation, the effect of a country ’ s banking structure on the

alessandra perrazzelli : financial technology, financial inclusion and competition policy - legal and economic approaches speech by ms alessandra perrazzelli, deputy governor of the bank of italy, at the collegio carlo alberto, university of turin, turin, 2 december 2022. * * * fintech is shaping the global financial system, leading to profound changes in demand and supply for financial products and services. innovation technology, alongside important opportunities, poses considerable challenges for traditional intermediaries and for regulatory and supervisory authorities. there is no doubt that technologies, such as artificial intelligence, cloud storage and computing, robotics, platforms and distributed ledgers technologies ( dlts ), are one of the main drivers of evolution in the industry ; the operators are increasingly using them to reduce costs and offer new services. the spread of internet connections and mobile devices, the greater availability of information about users and the lower cost of automatic data processing are opening up the financial sector to innovative business models. newcomers – such as fintech companies, start – ups and big techs – have arrived in the financial sector, changing relationships with clients and offering tailoredmade products. technological innovation allows financial institutions to be part of a broader and more interconnected ecosystem, based on the interaction and sharing of projects and information with multiple innovative companies. in this respect, players may set up several forms of relationships : from direct competition – with the consequent general reduction in traditional sources of income for incumbents – to forms of more or less advanced cooperation, based on the choices of each intermediary. the ultimate aim is to reach customers through new and diversified channels, with innovative services becoming faster, easier, cheaper and more accessible. the outlook for intermediaries in this context, intermediaries need to keep up with the increased competition and with the risks, such as cyber and operational risks, associated with the digitalization of financial services. i am also thinking about governance, profitability, capital adequacy, resilience and compliance in a broader perspective. innovation is changing banking value chains. indeed, new technologies make it possible to entirely digitalize financial processes from end to end, reduce costs and increase efficiency. in particular, we observe that newcomers are usually well positioned to leverage data and advanced technologies in order to increase their footprint in the financial landscape. at the same time, we observe that many strategic plans of the main italian banks have digitalization as one of their pillars. through different technologies ( mainly based on