This could lead to higher risk premia and structurally higher levels of precautionary saving by households. Understanding and monitoring these channels is an important task for central banks going forward. This is why assessing climate change is not a dilettante matter for central banks. With regard to the increasing importance of intangible capital, the new results I reported earlier have shown that this has important implications, not only for how we measure capital, but also for the prospects for potential output and productivity. The inclusion of intangibles would lead to an upward revision to the level of GDP (this happened in 2010 with the inclusion of R&D). The impact on GDP growth going forwards is more ambiguous, and would vary by time period – it will depend on the relative growth of intangible investment. Changing the measurement of intangibles would in principle affect both the measurement of output and potential output. So, it is not the case that the output gap, and hence the stance of monetary policy, would differ. Similarly, what matters for the trend real rate, R*, is how intangibles affect productivity growth in the long run, which is less about data revisions and more about the long-run impact of intangibles. Page 17  We have just scratched the surface though: indeed, the findings of our recent research have left us with as many new questions as answers. Are there more factors, beyond intangibles, responsible for the puzzlingly low level of investment?
Payment systems  In 2015, the Bank of Albania undertook a series of measures to improve the regulatory framework and oversight procedures for the payment systems. The approval of the Regulation “On licensing, regulation, and oversight of payment systems and clearing houses” is one of the main steps that will promote private initiatives for the clearing and settlement of payments. In October 2015, the National Committee of Payment Systems met for the first time. The Committee will serve as a forum for discussing issues related to payment systems and instruments, to support the decision-making process by the relevant institutions. Another development in the area of payments is related to the methodology “On the reporting of electronic money instruments by electronic money institutions”, which preceded the licencing of two electronic money institutions in 2015. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  ii. Currency issue  In the framework of its unique function as the issuer of the national currency, the Bank of Albania continued to fulfil the needs of the economy for banknotes and coins, in accordance with contemporary standards for their quality and security features. Compared to 2014, the structure of the currency in circulation has changed. Thus, the number of higher denominations, ALL 2000 and ALL 5000 increased. Also the use of coins increased, as their value rose by 8.2%. iii. Foreign-exchange reserve management  The reserve management continued to be conducted in accordance with the regulatory framework in force. The primary objective of the reserve management is the principle of liquidity and security.