economy will have to be optimised, and where public debate will have to bring together doctors and economists. their opinions may converge more easily than we believe. lastly, we know that we will emerge from this crisis with significantly higher levels of debt. this is clearly the case for government debt, with an increase of between ten and several dozen percentage points of gdp. but it is also the case for business debts : the longer the economic hiatus lasts, the more their problems will evolve from simple cash requirements to lasting balance sheet challenges and losses to be covered through capital increases. in financial terms, several businesses will go from facing liquidity constraints to solvency constraints. and the current cash flow problems will become stock problems. relatively speaking, the economic agents generally least affected by this crisis are households, which experience high levels of “ forced saving ” during the period. of course, this does not mean that, on a micro - economic level, some low - income households and financially vulnerable people are not already feeling the effects of lost income ; and these households, which struggle to make ends meet, have no precautionary savings. * * * this leads us to consider the lessons that history can teach us about recovering from crises, starting with the post - war years. this has become a particular focus of economic research today, even though, fortunately, our situation is less page 6 of 8 dramatic : the three " classic " themes – which give rise to so many questions – are the return to growth, debt treatment, and the proper use of monetary policy. 1 / how to support growth? in europe, there would be little sense in giving a cheque to every household, which forms part of the us recovery plan. we do not have – fortunately, to my way of thinking – the same social model. given the various social protection schemes in place in europe, to which we can add forced saving during periods of lockdown, household demand should recover quite spontaneously. in terms of total demand, greater uncertainty remains around investment and external demand, particularly with regard to the time needed for the global economy to overcome the public health crisis. supply from businesses could remain stymied in some sectors due to lasting loss of capacity ( bankruptcies ) and supply chain difficulties. this is therefore likely to require investment programmes and climate transition programmes that sustain demand while improving production capacity ; and for that, priority will have to be given to financing joint initiatives at the european level, particularly given its higher " debt capacity ".

the consumer wishes to make long - term investments. in a highly complex economic environment, the advisory duty is an essential link in the chain between household satisfaction and the economic efficacy of their investments. the numerous questions concerning life - insurance received by the legal specialists on the acp information platform bear witness to this reality. the marketing of financial products also raises questions of consumer protection. the financial services provider must take into account the client ’ s profile including his / her age, assets, investment horizon and degree of risk aversion, and adapt the investment opportunities offered accordingly so that the recommended investments are tailored to the client ’ s wishes and needs. guaranteeing that savers receive the right information is therefore indispensable. beyond this, at a time when savers seem to be turning towards more liquid products, how can the industry cater for savers ’ longer - term financing needs and for the financing requirements of other economic agents? should these needs and requirements be taken into consideration in the way financial products are marketed? this will be the theme of our second session. iii. lastly, what role should regulators play? regulators carefully monitor changes in household savings patterns and the marketing conditions of financial products. bis central bankers ’ speeches the evolution of household savings decisions can impact the soundness of financial institutions. in fact, any sharp switch from one form of saving to another can potentially destabilise the financial system and therefore the economy as a whole. the same is true for badly calibrated financial products that can have negative consequences on the profitability of institutions, especially when the remuneration of the product clearly deviates from prevailing market interest rates. as regards product marketing, it is, i repeat, a key factor in consumer confidence, particularly with respect to longer - term investments which play such an important economic role. the acp and the amf will make sure that these longer - term investment opportunities are preserved and, in this context, the development of aggressive and abusive sales practices is not acceptable. more generally, we will ensure that credit institutions and insurance entities behave prudently in their quest to gather client resources and rigorously in their respect of consumer protection laws. this will be the theme of the round table in the third session that will close this symposium. * * * i thank you for your attention and hand the floor to antoine frachot who will assume the role of moderator for the first session. bis central bankers ’ speeches