is that building a sound consumer and data protection framework with evolving capabilities is critical. before i conclude, a few words are in order about the role of regulators in the sector. it is essential that they ensure the innovations in the financial sector are conducted safely, i. e., without jeopardizing financial stability or consumers. this requires that regulators remain knowledgeable of the new and emerging technologies, in addition to being nimble so as to provide timely guidance. given the unknown risks with these innovations, a pilot “ test and learn ” approach may be adopted, and through which the necessary safeguards are applied to mitigate the potential risks. this approach worked for us at the central bank of kenya when we took the initial steps with mobile money services. as regulatory perimeters become blurred, financial sector regulators must establish links with other regulators, governments, private sector, and other stakeholders. in this complex scenario, consumers will become more vulnerable and will rely on the regulators to protect them. regulators will also need to guide the maintenance of sound governance and practices at all levels. in closing, i want to underscore that a great deal of innovation and innovative thinking is needed to ensure that the benefits from greater financial inclusion are fully realized. there are risks, but in the words of van gogh, “ the fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. ” thank you!

fisim ). the new methodology is based on the observation that depositors are usually paid an interest flow that is below the risk - free reference rate. the difference represents the value of depositor services produced by banks, in the form of safekeeping, bookkeeping and payment services. on the other hand, borrowers almost always pay an interest flow above the risk - free reference rate. in this case, the difference represents the value of borrower services provided by banks in the form of credit - rating and monitoring. using a reference rate to split banks ’ interest margin into depositor and borrower services makes it possible to allocate the consumption of these services to households and firms, thus distinguishing between financial services destined for intermediate and for final consumption. for luxembourg in particular, this change to national accounts methodology was important because our financial services industry primarily serves the export market, so the previous practice of allocating all such production to intermediate consumption by a fictitious sector was particularly implausible. while national accounts methodology has been much improved by this change, some open questions still remain. in particular, what is the appropriate reference rate? for the average depositor, it may be true that something close to the risk - free rate could be earned by forgoing the services attached to a bank account and instead investing in the money market. however, for the average borrower it is not reasonable to assume that funds would be available at the risk - free rate by issuing securities instead of approaching a bank for a loan. term - mismatch between savers and borrowers and informational asymmetries explain why the financial intermediation services provided by banks are so important for the operation of market economies. this suggests that to measure borrower services accurately the appropriate reference rate must take account of the term - structure and the risk profile f the resulting bank assets. i am glad to see from the program that several papers presented in this conference will address these issues. another open question is how to measure prices in financial services. value added in the financial intermediation has grown faster than real gdp in the euro area, but it has retained a constant share in nominal terms. this suggests that prices have been rising more slowly in this part of the economy. in luxembourg we could be tempted to congratulate ourselves for specialising in an industry with above average real growth and below average price inflation. but is this really the case or is it an artefact of how prices are measured in financial intermediation