Denis Beau: Emerging supervisory priorities - technology, risk culture and sustainability Opening remarks by Mr Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the BCBSBSCEE-FSI High-level Meeting for Europe on Banking Supervision, Session: “Emerging supervisory priorities: technology, risk culture and sustainability”, Vienna, 21 May 2019. * * * Accompanying slides of the speech. Along with some other national central banks, in particular the Bank of England and the Dutch National Bank, the Banque de France ant its supervisory arm, the ACPR has started to work on sustainability risks since 2015, in particular on financial risks arising from climate change. This willingness to take ownership of this issue was linked with the requirement from the French Energy Transition Act of 2015 to prepare a report discussing the feasibility of stress-testing exercises focusing on climate change-related risks, though the scope of the report was finally broader as it discussed the relevance of these risks for French banks. Our conclusions, published in March 2017, were that climate-related risks, in particular transition risks in the case of French banks, were relevant for financial stability, although the horizon of materialization was perceived way beyond the one underlying most of the risks we currently supervise and horizon of decision of banks. From this point of view, it was deemed within the mandate of the supervisor to raise  awareness and enhance ownership of these potential risks throughout the banking sector via regular meetings with institutions.
In the first seven months of 2018, Romania benefited of 2.7 million EUR in European funds and past experiences show there is a learning cycle in managing European funds and their disbursement increases towards the end of the Multiannual Financial Framework. We expect the investment financing to increase in 2019 and 2020. The European Investment Bank and its investment-financing arm, European Investment Fund, have a pronounced contribution to closing the financing gap of investments in the context of economic downturn, 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  providing the sources for investment finance, the expertise and the support for entrepreneurs. The recurrent themes for Romania’s development needs are as present as ever in the public space, and they should trigger a higher implication on all levels of decision, from the private sector to the public management authorities, to support and extend the investments for sustainable economic growth. The shift from consumption to investments, the reliable and qualitative infrastructure, the deficit of skilled labor and the gap in the transition from education to employment, the good governance and accountability framework in institutional investments, as well as the need to enhance the EU funds absorption rate, all these are, at the moment, the challenges that Romania, faces on its pathway to sustainable growth. In this context, I would like to point out the fact that the results of the European Investment Bank survey are in line with the NBR’s evaluations of the financial sector, the key aspect being the access to finance and sustainable investments.