Miguel Fernández Ordóñez: What should be done during the macroeconomic adjustment phase in Spain? Speech by Mr Miguel Fernández Ordóñez, Governor of the Bank of Spain, at a Lunchconference organised by El Correo de Andalucía, Seville, 25 September 2008. *  *  *  Since August last year the world’s developed economies have been convulsed by two very severe shocks: the rise in oil and other commodity prices and the outbreak of financial turmoil that has reached dimensions that nobody could have imagined initially. The increase in commodity and oil prices seems to be easing, and yet the events of recent weeks suggest that, as regards the turmoil, we are probably experiencing the most significant financial crisis since 1929. There are already numerous reports by domestic and international agencies (IMF, OECD, Bank for International Settlements) analysing the causes and consequences of the situation the industrialised economies are currently going through. At first it was thought that the repercussions of the financial crisis would be concentrated in the US economy. Then it was considered that other industrialised economies in which debt, the external imbalance or the property boom may have been important, like the UK, Spain, Ireland and New Zealand, might also be affected, while other countries would remain beyond the contagion. But this has not been the case. The effects have reached all countries. As we have just seen with the release of Q2 European growth figures, countries with large external surpluses such as Germany, have also posted a very weak economic performance.
The multifaceted interplay of ever greater processing power and storage capacity, together with the increase in the mobile use of services, are opening up entirely new business areas. This is also reflected in the large number of different business models currently represented in the Swiss fintech industry. The slide 9 shows the different business models in Switzerland. Only 15% of the enterprises within this segment are focusing on DLT, while the remainder are spread across other fields of application. One of the key areas for fintech is retail payments, i.e. payment transactions for companies and private individuals. A well-functioning system of payment transactions for end customers is a key pillar in any efficient economy. This payments area is undergoing a period of rapid technological change. Page 6/8  As with all fintech innovations, the primary focus is on the user-friendliness and speed of the services offered. Technological advances have led to marked changes in consumer expectations and requirements. Consumers want payment services to be ever faster and more user-friendly, and they want to be able to use them wherever they may be. End consumers these days are asking why it should take them longer to make a cashless payment than to send a WhatsApp message. As elsewhere, customers expect immediate service when it comes to payment transactions, and demand round-the-clock availability as well. To satisfy these demands, fintech companies and banks are working on new solutions, such as new applications, functionalities and services.