an address by francois groepe, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, at the payments innovation conference sandton convention centre, johannesburg 5 october 2017 the south african reserve bank ’ s perspective on a changing and innovative payments environment introduction fellow deputy governors, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the first payments innovation conference organised by the south african reserve bank ( sarb ), which we are hosting in collaboration with domestic and international payments stakeholders. this conference takes place at an appropriate time as innovation and technology have the potential to spur growth and development. according to ey ’ s fintech adoption index1, south africa boasts financial technology ( fintech ) adoption levels of 33 %, which is in line with the global average. the survey respondents expect this type of adoption to increase to an average of 52 % globally, with south africa counting among the countries with the highest intended use among consumers at 71 %. the purpose of this conference is therefore to develop deeper insights into emerging innovations in the payments ecosystem, which we hope will provide a better understanding of regulatory frameworks, stimulate debate, and spur development within the payments space in support of our country ’ s developmental objectives. ey. 2017. ‘ ey fintech adoption index 2017 – the rapid emergence of fintech ’. available http : / / www. ey. com / publication / vwluassets / ey - fintech - adoption - index - 2017 / $ file / ey - fintech - adoption - index - 2017. pdf. page 1 of 9 at my address today will focus on the sarb ’ s perspective on the changing and innovative payments environment. we are in an era of unprecedented exponential change, where rapid advances in technology have the potential to fundamentally change financial services. the international organization of securities commissions ( iosco ), for example, reports that, in 2014, there were 1 800 fintech companies with a total funding of us $ 5. 5 billion. this has risen to over 8 800 fintech companies with investment of us $ 100. 2 billion by 2016. 2 technology ’ s impact extends beyond mere services. it also allows for the democratisation of communication and information, and thus for the transfer of power to the end user. countries and institutions were previously the main controllers of communication and information due to high barriers to entry, such as information asymmetries and the large capital investment that was required to facilitate access. this has fundamentally changed

steven vanackere : one year after the 2023 market turmoil - outlook for banks and key supervisory take - aways keynote speech by mr steven vanackere, vice - governor of the national bank of belgium, at the european association of cooperative banks ( eacb ) high - level roundtable on the occasion of the eurofi conference, gent, 21 february 2024. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to deliver this speech at the welcome dinner of the eacb high - level roundtable. i thought it might be a good idea, one year after the banking turmoil of march 2023, triggered by the failure of several us banks and of credit suisse, to give you my perspective on the current outlook for eu banks and more specifically on the lessons to be learnt from this global turmoil. last year, the combination of slow growth, high inflation, and a historically very rapid increase in monetary policy interest rates resulted in unrest in the financial markets, with significant impact on the banking sector. 1. the higher rates reduced the market value of fixed - rate, long - term assets and implied unrealised losses on banks'balance sheets. 2. they increased banks'funding costs and created expectations of higher interest rates on deposits, which added to worries about of a potential more volatile behavior of this stable funding source. 3. they impact the debt burden of households and corporates, especially in jurisdictions with more short - term maturity or variable rate loans. against this background, the quality of banks'credit portfolios and their interest rate and liquidity risks became important points of attention. investors viewed with suspicion the impact of interest rate increases on the profitability and solvency of financial institutions. in the united states, this led to an abrupt and large - scale outflow of deposits from several medium - sized regional credit institutions. these banks had a number of specific vulnerabilities in common, such as a business model focused on a single economic sector or activity ( e. g. start - ups in the tech sector, services related to crypto - assets or banking services for of high net worth individuals ) and a large share of uninsured deposits. even more importantly, inadequate management of interest rate and liquidity risks forced these institutions to recognize large losses in the profit and loss account, undermining depositor confidence. earlier deregulation under the trump administration no longer subjected these banks to the basel minimum standards. finally, it was recognized that