, the main future challenge facing spanish credit institutions relates to the new competition framework stemming from the emergence of new technologies and growing financial disintermediation. in particular, although high uncertainty surrounds this area, new technologies clearly pose the most significant challenge ( and opportunity ) for banks in the medium and long term. these technologies may rapidly alter the competition framework, increasing competition in some segments and changing both the demand for banking services and the way in which they are provided. this means that banks will have to respond by anticipating and adjusting to the new environment, even though this may entail higher costs in the short term. the current degree of penetration of new technologies is comparatively low in spain, as shown in chart 20. this, together with spain ’ s extensive bank branch network, leads one to believe that there is considerable room for growth in digital banking and for efficiency gains, providing a growth opportunity for spanish banking institutions. growing financial disintermediation is yet another challenge for the banking sector. its intensity will depend on short - term and structural factors relating to monetary policy developments, the emergence of new competitors, progress in the capital markets union and long - term saving trends. challenges facing the euro area lastly, let me now turn to the challenges facing the euro area, since the outlook for the spanish economy also relies to a crucial extent on these challenges being adequately met. in this respect, despite the improvements made in the european architecture in recent years, more progress is needed to enhance euro area stability, requiring further steps to reduce risks and also to share them between the member states. it should be recalled that, after several years in which limited progress was made in euro area institutional reforms, it is now more than a year since the european commission took the initiative to re - open the debate, with the reflection paper on the deepening of the economic and monetary union. this debate revealed a variety of views on the role to be played by national responsibility and solidarity between member states in the institutional framework of the euro area in order to achieve greater stability and prosperity. at the summit of heads of state and government of the euro area countries in june 2018, a number of agreements were reached for progress in institutional reform and to address several urgent challenges. thus, the european stability mechanism ( esm ) will act as the common financial backstop for the single resolution fund ( srf ) and its role in the design and supervision of assistance programmes will be strengthened, with a possible review of the instruments at its disposal.

, private consumption has held at a growth rate which, though it has slowed during this year, remains high and is outpacing the increase in real disposable income, which has led the saving rate to ease to historically low levels ( see chart 7 ). looking ahead, however, the room for household saving to further contract appears limited. investment by non - financial corporations has continued to expand ( see chart 8 ). as in the case of households, financing conditions, in terms both of cost and availability of funds, have remained conducive to companies taking spending decisions, as has the strengthening of their financial position. maintaining the momentum of investment is pivotal, given that productive investment is a fundamental determinant both of the cyclical dynamics of the economy and of long - term economic growth. a characteristic feature of the current expansionary cycle has been the compatibility of economic growth with a significant external surplus ( see chart 9 ). various factors have contributed to sustaining this surplus, including most notably the significant increase in the base of firms that export their products regularly, the increase in revenue from the tourist industry, despite its recent slowdown, and the environment of low interest rates, which has contributed to diminishing the income balance deficit. however, looking ahead, some of these factors will foreseeably lose steam, owing partly to the effects of the appreciation of the euro, in nominal effective terms, and to dearer oil. these effects will give rise to a considerable reduction in the spanish economy ’ s net lending vis - a - vis the rest of the world, which is nevertheless expected to remain positive over the coming years. with regard to the labour market, 2. 3 million jobs have been generated since 2013. these developments, along with the reduction in the labour force as a result of population ageing, have enabled the unemployment level to be reduced most significantly. the unemployment rate thus stands below 15 %, 12 pp down on its 2013 high ( see chart 10 ), although still far off the level observed in the euro area on average ( slightly above 8 % ). most recently, the robustness of employment has eased in line with developments in activity, making for continuing and very low growth in productivity, as has been the case since the start of the recovery. 5 / 14 strong job creation has been accompanied by a modest increase in wage compensation in the past four years. chiefly contributing to this has been the high degree of slack in the labour market which dates back to the