Similarly, customers must also be engaged, as they play a crucial role in creating much needed demand for Fintech led transformation. Therefore stakeholders have to consider how to educate consumers and businesses about the benefits of Fintech as well as making them aware of risks and challenges, so that they build trust, and can make informed financial services decisions. Let me conclude with a final thought. The digitalisation of the financial sector will continue to accelerate over the coming years. To help capture the greatest benefit from continuing waves of innovation, we must build trust in new financial technologies - by promoting an atmosphere that encourages creativity and innovations to the benefit of our societies, but without sacrificing consumer protection or undermining the financial system stability. Thank you! 1 https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/12/03/fintech-market-reports-  rapid-growth-during-covid-19-pandemic  4/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches
Against this background, the authorities had two options: either to use the fact that Malta did not meet the fiscal criteria to maintain the status quo and delay the implementation of sensitive reforms, with the risk of undermining growth prospects; or to use the adverse impact of globalization on Malta’s current account and the vulnerability of the fixed exchange rate regime to highlight the urgent need for a faster pace of reform, while holding out the promise of the expected benefits of the euro. The authorities chose the latter approach, including a rather ambitious programme of fiscal consolidation and a unilateral commitment to maintain the Maltese lira/euro exchange rate at the central parity rate in ERM II. This appeared a natural way to buttress the economy’s long record of exchange rate stability, though it was also dictated by the need to counter harmful speculation at the time about the level of the exchange rate. Three years after EU accession, that bold decision appears to have paid off. Economic growth rose to 3.3% in 2005 and 2006, and is expected to stay around that level; the unemployment rate stabilised, then eased slightly; and FDI flows, which have always been important, strengthened further. The gap between productivity growth and wages narrowed to the point that unit labour costs are now increasing negligibly or falling, depending on the measure used.