to account for its performance. i shall touch on this last aspect again in a moment. secondly, the inflation - targeting framework gives the responsibility for achieving the target to the central bank, and specifically to the reserve bank's monetary policy committee, acting independently and under a clear mandate to deliver the target. it also gives the mpc the means to achieve the target, through its decision on setting the reserve bank's repo rate at each of its meetings. the framework thus ensures that there is a clear allocation of responsibility ; and it ensures that interest rate decisions are taken by a competent authority dedicated to the task and acting independently. thirdly and fourthly, the inflation - targeting framework is one that delivers a high degree of transparency and accountability. transparency and accountability is achieved through the full statement the mpc issues immediately after each meeting, through the range of publications the reserve bank issues setting out its view of developments, and through the public appearances the governor and his colleagues make in explaining the reserve bank's policy activities. i think this is a very important and beneficial part of the process for several reasons - partly because it is right that in a democratic system public agencies should be required to be open and accountable in explaining their activities ; partly because that process hopefully helps to maintain public confidence in the performance of the agency and public support for the objective of low inflation ; partly because that in turn should encourage business and individuals to conduct their affairs on the basis that low inflation will be maintained ; and partly because openness and accountability helps promote a better public debate on the issues. these are all elements that i believe help to strengthen the effectiveness of the inflationtargeting process. this framework has, of course, been tested in the past 18 months by the inflationary shocks the economy has faced from the fall in the value of the rand in the latter half of 2001 and the accompanying upwards pressure on food prices and fuel costs. the steps taken last year to raise interest rates were necessary to prevent these shocks generating a self - reinforcing process of rising inflation. as indicated in the statement issued after last week's meeting of the mpc, there are now signs that the inflationary pressures are beginning to abate and that the outlook for inflation is improving, though there is little room for complacency given the considerable risks we still face. but to return to my initial impressions, what is particularly encouraging, i believe, is that the coherent and responsible policy framework provided by inflation - targeting has demonstrated

payment service of its own. another us - based payment service – paypal – is very widespread in e - commerce. recent figures indicate that roughly 40 % of sales by the top 1, 000 online retailers in germany, excluding amazon, are paid for using paypal. china offers a very vivid example of how far bigtech services can penetrate people ’ s dayto - day lives : wechat and alipay ( which belongs to the alibaba group ) can be used not only as a payment method, but also to directly order food, buy cinema tickets or call taxis – all services united on a single platform … without a doubt, this is all very convenient for consumers and retailers, since everything can be taken care of “ under one roof ”, so to speak. this development, however, is not without its problems from the point of view of the consumer, as well as from the perspective of regulators and established banks. if bigtech firms expand into an increasing number of business areas, there is a risk that monopolies arise. moreover, if the data generated are analysed and consumers are offered matching products and services, they will lose sight of the alternatives. in the markets of the internet economy, usually “ the winner takes it all ”. from the consumer ’ s perspective, we should remind ourselves of the business logic of many bigtech firms : many of the services they offer – such as payments – might be provided purely as a way of obtaining data, the key raw material for their business model. consequently, many services are only seemingly free for consumers, since they are paying for them with their personal data. for banks, meanwhile, there is the danger of losing the battle for the customer in payments. the risk is that the bigtech players place themselves at the customer interface, leaving the banks merely as interchangeable settlement actors in the background. for now, the bigtech firms still rely on cooperative ventures with banks for the settlement of payments in europe. a payment made using apple pay or google pay is mostly settled via the credit card stored in the account, which is issued by a bank. however, apple, for one, has already started issuing its own credit cards ( currently still in cooperation with goldman sachs ). a next step could now be creating closed payment systems that no longer need any established payment instruments to carry out payments. and indeed, facebook is of course already planning its own payment system which is independent of any bank : libra – i will come