our thinking, there are four cornerstones. let me next reflect on these. the first one is that the infrastructure for payments must be open and cost efficient. in our own particular context, the european reach of solutions and the use of standardization are important drivers for this. the interoperability of different infrastructures builds efficiency at the systemic level. it is important to allow equal access to all relevant infrastructures for every party fulfilling the necessary regulatory requirements. in economic terms, we are referring to a contestable payments market. 1 the keynote by professor christine parlour will expand on this point. the second cornerstone is that electronic payment services must be developed to take the 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches needs of all user groups into consideration. electronic payments do normally deliver efficiency. yet, we must ensure that development does not lead to digital exclusion. the key is to make the services easily usable and widely accessible. and in the brave new digital world, we must pay particular attention to financial literacy. one practical example is instant payments. in finland, we are seeing an encouraging trend where instant payments are being taken up by the banks largely as a ‘ new normal ’, and as the ‘ default procedure ’ for processing of account transfers. this is likely to benefit society as a whole. in a report by the finnish payments council in 2019, it was noted that the improved cash management brings benefits for businesses, not least the smes, as the money arrives sooner and is directly available for use. in his recent book, ‘ the internet ’, mikko hypponen, a renowned finnish it security expert, wrote that we should not blindly digitalize everything. he uses the example of elections in finland. if digital methods of voting were to be introduced, he says, the benefits would be marginal while potential problems could be huge. i very much agree with mikko. the other example he gives is cash. the resiliency it provides should not be overlooked. this aligns with our thinking at the bank of finland : besides our strong support for advancing and improving electronic payments, we – and the eurosystem at large – are committed to keeping cash as an alternative, also for the sake of resilience, not least in the case of cyber emergency. the third cornerstone in our thinking is that improvements in safety, reliability and prevention of misuse must be fundamental to the development of electronic payments. payment service providers and infrastructures must have sound risk management and must focus on resilience

was always essential in my mind for the central bank to respect its narrowly defined mandate. after all, central bankers are not elected political agents and should therefore not make any decisions that are reserved for parliaments and governments. otherwise, they could put their independence and therefore the basis for a stability - oriented monetary policy at risk. i ’ m certain that the line i draw between monetary policy and fiscal policy is more clear - cut than the one drawn by others. i have also repeatedly pointed out the risks and side effects of non - standard measures. i have done so because they could undermine the pursuit of price stability by causing monetary and fiscal policy to become more closely intertwined. furthermore, i continue to believe that fiscal dominance could pose a major risk to monetary policy. discussions in the ecb governing council were not always easy, and they were at times controversial as well. one of the reasons for this is that there was no blueprint for responding to various the crises. another is that the monetary union, with its single monetary policy and 19 independent national fiscal policies, is sui generis in terms of its structure and differs vastly from other currency areas. however, i believe that our intense discussions ultimately resulted in better decisions. it was a challenging time when occasionally difficult decisions had to be made under time pressure and with far - reaching consequences. not only did we debate with each other, we also 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches agonised over the right path forward. mario draghi did not have an easy time in office, and he didn ’ t make it easy for himself with the positions he took. many conservations i have had testify to this. christine, i would like to thank both your predecessor but especially you for creating a solutionoriented, open and constructive atmosphere in which to hold these discussions, which, by the way, have led to mutual decisions on multiple occasions – a fact often overlooked by the public. i have great respect for the work that both of you have achieved at the helm of the ecb. but i would also like to extend my gratitude to my other colleagues on the ecb governing council for their close and constructive collaboration. i think it is a remarkable accomplishment that we managed to work out a new monetary policy strategy even under the difficult conditions of the pandemic. the results speak for themselves. that said, the new strategy has yet to be put to the test, as inflation rates have climbed in the wake of the pandemic to their highest level