of global economic activity. just over a year ago trading officially commenced under the african continental free trade area. one factor that could greatly enhance the economic benefits of free trade in africa is cheaper and faster cross - border payment services within the continent and beyond. a lot of what we do daily involves crossing borders. from sending an email to someone abroad, to meeting with you virtually right now. it is time that our money also flows more easily across borders. there are four key barriers to cross - border payments – the cost, the speed, the transparency and the inclusion. to address these four barriers, the fsb has developed a roadmap to 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches enhance cross - border payments. we have done this together with our partners, most notably the committee on payments and market infrastructures. and this roadmap has been endorsed by g20 leaders, giving it strong political backing from the largest financial centres. this roadmap covers the whole payments market – both wholesale and retail payments. and it includes a particular focus on remittances, recognising that they are a critical source of financing for people in developing countries and that they play an important role in economic growth. the roadmap seeks to deliver the necessary improvements through five focus areas, with cooperation between all stakeholders – public or private, national or international – being essential. let me briefly walk you through the focus areas. first – part of the success of this roadmap will depend on public - private cooperation. we will need central banks to improve their core payment systems, allowing the private sector to follow suit. and at the same time, we will need the private sector to play a big role in the needed improvements when developing new payment systems and arrangements, or when enhancing existing services. we will also need the combined efforts of many different types of experts – from payment service providers and system operators, to supervisors, regulators, and central banks. but also from experts outside of the financial sector – like data authorities contributing to streamlining data provision and data sharing. second – to improve cross - border payments, we need coordination of regulatory, supervisory and oversight frameworks. cross - border payments obviously involve at least two jurisdictions, and often more, when correspondent banking networks are involved. this often creates frictions – with, as a result, the four challenges i just mentioned. to address these frictions, we will need actions on both an international and a national level. this should lead to a better

’ re here to discuss today and tomorrow. but these are also questions that are not easily answered. for there are several concerns that we need to take into account : – for one, giving central banks a larger role in financial stability may blur the lines between different policies. – and the fact that financial stability involves so many different actors, makes things even more complicated. – also : central banks may end up becoming more political than they were in the decades before the crisis. – and this, of course, will then give rise to a legitimate concern about a possible democratic deficit. the all - important question, therefore, is : how we can preserve our independence with regard to price stability, while at the same time broadening our responsibilities? in my view, it is therefore vital to foster a clear understanding of what central banks can and cannot do in each of their responsibilities and in each of their roles. not until then can we avoid unreasonable expectations about what central banks can – and cannot – achieve. one way of improving the understanding of the role of central banks is to find new ways to increase transparency and accountability. after all, independence on the one hand, and transparency and accountability on the other, are two sides of the same coin. ladies and gentlemen, bis central bankers ’ speeches let me end by returning to the start of our conference. i ’ m confident that this conference in celebration of our bicentennial is going to give us plenty of food for thought, and will also shed some light on the questions i just identified. the decades before the crisis were perhaps a period of relative calm. the aftermath of the crisis challenges us to look into the future, into the role of central banks over the next two decades. if only, because we need to bring our core functions more closely together, while preserving our independence where required. given our long history as an institution at the heart of society and our continuing dedication, i believe we have proved to be of immense value as a contributor to sustainable prosperity. and i am confident that we will continue to be so. i thank you for your attention. and i wish you all a fantastic conference. bis central bankers ’ speeches