2012 in the sepa area, and accounted for 60 % of all fraud losses on cards issued inside the sepa. fortunately, the vulnerabilities at the root of those frauds are well identified and important efforts are underway both by public authorities and the private sector to address them. in france an important contribution comes from the “ observatory for payment cards security ”, which i have the pleasure to chair. its recommendations have facilitated the recognition by stakeholders, who are all represented in the observatory, of the importance of strong customer authentication for internet payments and facilitated its wide adoption. this has significantly contributed to limit the impact on fraud rates, at least for national payments, and it has helped foster the dramatic expansion of e - commerce that we currently see. but beyond the development of card payments via the internet, other innovations such as mobile and contactless payments or online banking services also raise important issues. these issues notably include the protection of sensitive payment data. to address them, the banque de france has been working with the banking community, which translated into an agreement in 2011 to promote the protection of bank account identifiers and card numbers. this issue of protection of sensitive data appears all the more important to address that we bis central bankers ’ speeches witness the entry of newcomers in the payment chain like third party payment services providers, who may contribute positively to foster innovation and potentially competition in the retail payments market but whose modus operandi should not lead to lower the current security level of online banking services. what lessons can we draw from that experience to promote best practices in the field of security for retail payments on a larger scale? i would like to underline three of them which might be of interest for your debate today : first, consumer uptake of innovative payment solutions is all the more large and sustainable that those solutions are safe and it is in the innovators ’ interest to pay enough attention to security issues. second, the dialogue and the cooperation between the stakeholders in the security of payments is a must to obtain solid results. forums like the french “ observatory for payment cards security ” which gathers merchants, consumers, banking and payment markets stakeholders, but also representatives from the french parliament and other relevant public authorities may prove quite helpful from that perspective. in that kind of forums, authorities have an important role to play as catalysts in order to facilitate consensus between players, to overcome technical issues and to adopt requirements which will ensure the highest security of retail payments while encouraging innovation and efficiency. lastly, cooperation and

and the main remedy for this disease. i won ’ t make comments about yesterday ’ s governing council and monetary decision. but our collective fight against inflation calls for a more appropriate policy mix : the revision of the european economic governance framework provides a major window of opportunity to realign fiscal and monetary policy. page 2 sur 4 alongside high inflation, public debts have reached historical levels mainly due to unprecedented waves of shocks, but also, for several countries, to legacy debts. now that these shocks are fading, governments must avoid an overly expansionary stance that would further fuel inflationary pressures. we therefore need a more coordinated and realigned fiscal and monetary stance. better alignment of fiscal and monetary policies would unleash greater efficiency of the policy mix : everyone agrees on this point. the question is how to ensure a better coordination between fiscal authorities – overseen by the commission within the european semester – and the ecb, which are both independent, and have specific mandates. well : coordinating two independent and strong - minded personalities is always challenging, even more so with two independent institutions. in my view, they can be seen as travellers that have to take a journey together. they did not necessarily choose each other, but they can follow simple rules of cohabitation. ( i ) agree on the destination, i. e. the respective “ anchors ” of the 2 % inflation target over the medium term, and the medium - term debt reduction path ( ii ) ensure a continuous dialogue to foster mutual trust and address divergences. moreover, the higher the inflation and interest rates, the harder it is to manage public debt. attention is increasingly focusing on the sustainability of public finances, and rightly so. in this context, the july eurogroup statement on the euro area fiscal stance, ii which highlights the need for fiscal consolidation, is very welcome. this is also true for france, which should avoid drifting towards a gloomy resignation about the constantly increasing government expenditure ( 58 % of gdp vs 51 % on average in the euro area in 2022 ) and public debt ( 112 % vs 94 % ). moreover, my country failed in the past to meet its commitments on budgetary targets. i strongly hope the next pluriannual public finance programming bill and the 2024 budget will demonstrate increased commitment and credibility. * * page 3 sur 4 the reform of eu fiscal governance underway is a key opportunity to reestablish a sound framework for public debt management. in april 2023, the commission published its