And the threat posed by climate change means we need to give serious consideration to the resilience of our physical and digital infrastructure. The New York Fed has the appearance of an historic institution, but behind the stone façade 1/2  BIS central bankers' speeches  we’re grappling with these issues in the same way that you are. In our economic research, our supervision of financial institutions, the payments systems we operate, in short – in all that we do. Talent, technology, and innovation challenge us every day. They create incredible opportunity, but they also test us by exposing new vulnerabilities. I know that over the next couple of days there will be lots of valuable insights shared by experts about how to handle the challenges posed by big data, cryptocurrency, and climate change. But first, to kick off the conference, it’s my pleasure to introduce John Dugan, Chair of Citigroup. Citigroup has operations in over 150 countries, with about 200 million customer accounts worldwide.2 As head of a global employer with complex, international operations, John is no stranger to the changing nature of risk. John became Chair of Citigroup at the start of this year. Prior to that he was chair of the Financial Institutions Group at the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, where he spent much of his career. He has also held a number of public sector roles, including Comptroller of the Currency during a critical time for our financial system and economy, from 2005–2010.
When the building was planned and constructed during the early part of the twentieth century, the gold was seen as a real vulnerability. It was conceivable that someone would try to rob the Bank and steal the gold. The only time that’s happened was in the Bruce Willis movie Die Hard 3, which, to be clear, was only a movie! A lot of that owes to the skill of the architects of the building, and the law enforcement who protect it. But the other reason is that the risks we face today in 2019 look very different to the ones we were planning for in 1921. For a thief today, it’s easier to use a laptop to buy some stolen credit card details online and commit fraud than it is to plan a Hollywood-style bank heist. And that’s what I’m going to say a few words about—the changing nature of risk—before handing over to this evening’s keynote speaker, John Dugan, Chair of Citigroup. In previous decades it was easier to identify risk and what to do about it. You could see it, measure it, and fortify against it. But, as the world has changed, so have the risks that demand our attention and our resources. The new risks are harder to predict and inherently ambiguous: Steel and concrete can do little to protect us. Our reliance on technology means we need to think differently about cyber risk. The importance of innovation and intellectual property means we need to look for new approaches to talent and culture.