the need for more forceful global response? since i have heard from different locations of similar concerns, we are all working at home, looking at what could be done. but it ’ s at a very premature stage because we don ’ t want to overdo it. we are in an open society, where people are free to lose money as they like. it ’ s a phenomenon that affects central banking, payment systems, banks and financial market infrastructure. by definition those activities become cross - border so a cross - border response is always preferable to a fragmented national one. in many jurisdictions there is a very high concern about money - laundering and terrorism financing. what needs to be decided here as a superpriority has to do with the level of political responsibility rather than the level of individual agencies. therefore the g20 where you also have the government side coming is a welcome forum. the second in the list of priorities is to have more information because it ’ s very difficult to have access to what is happening and where it ’ s happening. we need more information and that ’ s why for me one obligation would already be to force the unregulated platforms to report transactions in a harmonized way to repositories so that we would have access to information also in order to create a better response. i hear often that there are concerns of criminal activity and the amount of hoaxes in this virtual world is rather high. so the main concern is the absence of proper information and the absence of traces so you could track the transactions. so this is certainly something that specialized staff in different member states will also look into. your colleague benoit coeure said recently that the ecb expects g - 20 meeting in march to focus on coordinated response to the growth of digital currencies and urged leaders to come up with a regulatory answer. what are you expectations about this meeting in buenos aires? you should not think of a meeting as being a switch. it will launch a certain amount of studies, it will probably task a certain number of existing institutions to dig deeper and then we will start the work. but in the meantime we already prepare in - house. whatever happens, we want to be prepared. what can you do until this coordinated response is ready? 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches we have on the one hand our existing toolbox. it always is useful if you look at the toolbox again in terms of what is possible from the point of view of a new application. then

has benefited from a positive demographic position as a result of its young and vibrant labour force, but has suffered from continuous net migration towards more developed countries. while emigration has provided a steady flow of remittances and has eased labour market pressures, it has also drained the country of its highly skilled labour force. the latter might have long - term repercussions on innovation and can have implications on the so - far convergence progress realised. with that being said, let me now conclude. 3. towards a steady convergence path see countries are at risk of falling into ‘ a middle income trap ’. as such the economic systems need to be transformed, through carefully - designed and well - targeted policies that promote domestic innovation, modernise institutions, and cushion the effects of adverse demographics. it is clear that the load of reforms remains with the see countries authorities ’ themselves. a domestic ownership of reforms is of utmost importance for the democratic process and the ultimate success of convergence. however, while these policies need to be carried out regardless of external factors, eu integration has a fundamental importance on economic convergence dynamics. after the economic and financial crisis, appetite for further eu enlargement declined, due to waning popular support and shifting policy priorities towards reform. as the eu ’ s mood drifted away from enlargement and from further integration, countries relaxed their drive for reform. these developments coincided, or let me rather say, induced a stall in the convergence process in several see countries. as a final thought, the eu institutions themselves can facilitate this process further through : 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches providing transparent and objective eu integration guidelines ; emphasising the need of institutional convergence throughout this process ; continued monitoring and reporting on the progress of individual countries. on one hand, this will enhance the positive leverage of the eu integration process on the development of our countries and societies. on the other, it will increase the cost of noncompliance and possibly induce positive compliance competition amongst the countries in the region. thank you! 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches