My special thanks go to our host, the Czech National Bank, for the very good cooperation and for an outstanding local organization of this conference. Being here in Prague, I was reminded that Joseph Schumpeter was born not too far away from Prague in a small town named Třešť. It was Joseph Schumpeter who once said that “economic progress in capitalist society means turmoil”.
It would be, of course, unfair and undue reference to associate Schumpeter’s notion of turmoil with the current period we are experiencing in financial markets. In my speech today, I would like to focus on the retail banking sectors’ contribution to efficiency and stability in financial markets also in light of the ongoing financial market turbulences.