institutions or sectors as a whole. these systemic risks should be tackled by authorities. macroprudential authorities should coordinate their actions in order to mitigate these risks and seek ways to balance the protection of customers'interests and financial institution risks with specific policy objectives, a level - playing field being one of them. the initiatives taken by the european commission, such as the digital finance package, that captures a€ “ among others - the proposal for digital operational resilience act ( dora6 ), and the revision of the second payment services directive, are steps towards mitigating the identified risks. 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches the increasing number of cyber - attacks in europe indicates that a lot more needs to be done. the growth of the fintech sector has raised the need for regulators to adjust their role within the perimeter of prudential regulation. extending the perimeter of bank regulation to all financial service providers could possibly constrain financial innovation. but keeping the new entrants completely out of the perimeter will tilt the playing field in their favour and leave consumers unprotected. a balance must be found to allow the regulatory perimeter to cover all activities that have systemic risk potential, while allowing for innovation. finally, data protection is important in order to safeguard confidence in the banking sector. as a result, cyber security should be further enhanced and prioritised and cyber - risk incidents need to be included in financial institutions'business continuity and disaster recovery plans and be tested frequently. given the cross - border activities of fintech and bigtech, authorities across jurisdictions should cooperate in regulating them. thank you. 1 financial integration and structure in the euro area : https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / pub / fie / html / ecb. fie202003 ~ 197074785e. en. html # toc1 2 4 challenges for the financial industry and the best tech solutions to fight them, rocky osborn, november 2020. 3 financial stability review, november 2021 : https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / pub / financial - stability / fsr / html / ecb. fsr202111 ~ 8b0aebc817. en. html 4 eu structural financial indicators : end of 2020 : https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / press / pr / date / 2021 / html / ecb. pr210526 ~ 7469dedaaf. en

frank elderson : the challenges facing the ecb and europe opening statement by mr frank elderson, executive director of supervision of the netherlands bank, to the economic and monetary affairs committee of the european parliament ( virtual ), 9 november 2020. * * * in his opening statement in european parliament at the formal hearing for the position of member of the executive board of the ecb, frank elderson spoke about the challenges facing the ecb and europe, notably covid - 19 and the climate crisis, and about gender diversity. * * * dear madame chair, honourable members of the european parliament, it is an honour for me to speak to you today. unfortunately, the covid - 19 restrictions make it impossible to come to the parliament physically. as soon as circumstances allow, it would be my privilege to meet you in person. this hearing takes place at a time of great challenge for europe. covid has caused deep human suffering throughout our communities, and has taken a severe toll on our economies. the climate crisis remains as daunting and urgent as ever. these challenges present us, as policymakers, with a solemn responsibility. both the european parliament and the european central bank have a key role to play in steering europe through the current crises, and in making it better and stronger for the future. being fully conscious of the importance of this moment, i feel especially humbled and honoured to have been selected as a candidate for member of the executive board of the ecb. i welcome this hearing as a key step in the appointment process. central bankers are independent and unelected. yet their decisions have an enormous impact on the lives of citizens. for their legitimacy, it is essential that central banks operate within their legal mandates, listen to concerns of the public, and account for their decisions to the people and to you, their representatives. in my short remarks, i will outline my experience before discussing my views on the challenges facing the ecb and europe in the near and medium term. finally, i will turn to gender diversity. qualifications i have been a central banker for most of my career. i have been a member of the governing board of the dutch central bank for more than nine years. at european level, i am a member of the ecb supervisory board and i served as one of the first members of the single resolution board. at international level, i am a member of the basel committee on banking supervision, and i chair the central banks and supervisors network for greening the financial