Rather in the best traditions of central banking, my conclusion is that the authorities as a whole need to remain vigilant and deepen our understanding, so that we can take appropriate action in the future if required – be that from a macro-prudential or supervisory perspective. Looking to the future  Financial markets are ever in a state of flux. In particular, the trend toward greater automation of trading – my focus today – looks certain to continue, both in already fast markets as well as those currently more reliant on traditional intermediation methods. Market participants have a clear interest here in understanding how risks to their businesses are evolving and in managing them prudently. For the authorities, we need to dig deep to understand what this means for the financial system as a whole: both to appreciate the benefits and to remain vigilant as to the risks. This remains very much in focus for the Bank and the FCA. It is important for us to ensure that regulation – both of individual participants, market infrastructure and the financial system as a whole – keeps pace with the changes in the type and distribution of risk. Only then can it provide an adequate guard against risks to prudentially regulated institutions and their counterparties. Regulation is most effective when informed by a rich and diverse set of research – and here we need help from the academic community. There is enormous potential for varied and interesting research in the area of fast markets.
Gent Sejko: Welcome remarks -15th SEE Economic Research Workshop Welcome remarks by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the 15th SEE Economic Research Workshop, virtual, 6 December 2021. * * * Dear professors and researchers from academia, Dear fellow central bank colleagues and researchers, Dear participants, It is a great pleasure to open the proceedings of the 15th SEE Economic Research Workshop, which is being organised virtually this year as well, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that are still in place. I take this opportunity to express my wish that we would all stay safe and healthy and for the negative effects of the pandemic to come to an end as soon as possible. I hope that the vaccination process, progress in knowledge, cures against COVID-19, and an improvement in the overall situation caused by the pandemic, would enable us to welcome you in Tirana next year. I am glad to note that we have again a full house and a rich agenda this year, with two days in which colleagues and researchers from central banks as well as distinguished universities in Albanian and worldwide will present their works. We really appreciate your interest in participating in this workshop and in the research carried out by the Bank of Albania throughout 2021. I am confident that discussions across this workshop’s panels will be very interesting.