The crisis, besides all else, evoked negative public attitudes in relation to banks. Although not a lev of Bulgarian taxpayers has been spent to bail out banks and it would be unfair to place the Bulgarian banks next to those that continue to receive capital support from many governments and central banks, we should be aware of such attitudes. A short list runs like this: “… banks are the ones to blame for the crisis; besides they do not show commitment to the problems of businesses during these hard times”; “… interest rates and taxes in Bulgaria are high”; “… banks enjoy regulatory comfort,” etc, etc. 2  BIS Review 169/2010  Have we got sufficient evidence to expect that such attitudes will dissipate any time soon? And what is our response? There is more than just one side to this problem, because the majority of the population lacks a basic financial knowledge. Others are not responsible enough in managing their own money. I agree with you when you feel indignation at the lack of objectivity in much of the criticism against commercial banks. But we can’t change people. The important thing is to do anything we possibly can to give our clients the maximum correctness. You could step in and play an important role by streamlining your business practices with regard to servicing clients. “He who works, makes mistakes” Mistakes however should be owned and rectified in a prompt manner.
Digitalisation is an ambivalent process in that it also offers banks tools to control these risks. For example, artificial intelligence is a valuable tool in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as it can be used to analyse large volumes of data quickly in order to spot unusual transactions more swiftly. 1.2 Vulnerabilities in relation to the transition to a sustainable economy [SLIDE 3]  The other structural challenge, namely the green transition, exposes banks to a number of vulnerabilities. The exposure of banks to climate-related risks is now well established, in part thanks to work by the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, or NGFS. In particular, banks may be exposed to physical risks and transition risks. Physical risks stem from the rise of extreme weather events such as droughts, flooding and storms. These events can weaken the businesses and households to which banks are exposed, potentially generating losses. Transition risks are related to the measures that are taken by public authorities or the private sector to support the move to a low-carbon production model, which oblige economic participants to restructure their activities and cause some assets to become impaired. Coal mines, for instance, are destined to become stranded assets. Since transition risks materialise over a longer time horizon and are less visible, they are challenging to identify and model. In addition to climate risk, the financial system is also affected by the risks linked to ecosystem disruption, such as biodiversity loss.