However, beyond the banking sector’s response, if society is to derive maximum benefit from digitalisation while minimising the costs of the transition, I believe that a comprehensive response is required from the public authorities. A response which surely transcends the financial sphere, to which the financial authorities can no doubt make an important contribution. That is why we are going to focus precisely on improving digital skills in the coming years using, for example, the Financial Education Plan launched jointly by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and 1/2  BIS central bankers' speeches  Digital Transformation, the CNMV and the Banco de España. Because we are fully aware that digital literacy is also part of our financial education. That is also why the Banco de España has long identified the economic and population differences in urban and rural areas (also in terms of access to general services and, more specifically, to banking services) as phenomena that warrant priority analytical attention. Such analysis must provide the basis for informed decision-making. Our most recent annual report, presented before Parliament last year, included a chapter dedicated to these issues. In the coming months we shall present the findings of several studies which examine in depth the phenomenon of financial exclusion in relation to digitalisation processes. Specifically, we are going to present a comparative study of access to cash in Spain and in other euro area countries, focusing particularly on the differences between rural and urban areas.
Joint ICMIF/AMICE Regulatory Affairs conference Paris, Tuesday 4 December 2018  Keynote address Denis Beau – First Deputy Governor  “Old and new challenges for the insurance sector, its regulators and supervisors”  1  Good morning to all of you, dear Presidents and members of ICMIF and AMICE,  I am very happy to be here with you today to exchange views on the stimulating and no less challenging developments that the insurance sector, and especially mutual insurers, as well as their regulators and supervisors, will have to face in the upcoming months and years. After a few words on the economic and financial context and its related challenges for insurers, I will first focus on those brought by regulatory developments currently in the making, and will finish with the new risks that insurers, their regulators and supervisors will have to address, namely cyber-risks and climate change-related risks. Overall, the macroeconomic environment has been favourable. The recovery of the global economy strengthened last year. Global GDP grew at 3.8% in 2017 and is expected to grow at a similar pace for the next two years. The European economy performed well and the inflation rate in Europe is in line with the European Central Bank’s target (2%). Even if recent survey data have been somewhat weaker, the medium-term outlook for the euro area remains broadly positive. However,  global  and  domestic  uncertainties  are  growing.