The next sign will be the depletion of the capital base. In the current paper money systems with no backing of gold or foreign currency holdings, capital funds in a central bank serves to back the domestic asset creation. If the capital funds which are non-monetary liabilities are equal to the domestic assets (a hundred percent cover), then all monetary liabilities are backed by gross foreign assets similar to a currency board. Therefore, the auditors should look for the ratio of capital funds to domestic assets and if the ratio is above 100%, they could be complacent. However, the risk factor emerges if the ratio falls. The auditors should alert the central bank management and come to arrangement with it, to prevent its further depletion. If the ratio falls closer to 15%, the level prescribed in many central bank legislations as the minimum requirement, the auditors should issue a red alert to central bank managements. When the ratio falls below 15%, then, it is a matter of national emergency and urgent measures need be introduced to re-capitalise a central bank. The third sign is the actual losses made by central banks due to larger out-payments. The fourth sign is the necessity for issuing currency to finance a central bank’s affairs, since it amounts to inflating the economy to meet a central bank’s expenses. Conclusion The auditors of a modern central bank should play a different role today.
But it must be clear that beyond regulators and central banks, the private sector has also a key role to play to ensure that the digitalisation of finance indeed brings about the efficiency benefits it is expected to deliver without jeopardizing the stability of our financial system. From that perspective I would like to underline the strategic importance of the European Payments Initiative. 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  The EPI is currently the only project aiming to offer an integrated pan-European payment solution with a common brand, and not based on the interoperability of heterogeneous domestic solutions. I regret that part of the European banking community has prioritised other interests over a common, lasting project. This shrinking of the number of shareholders has inevitable consequences on the capacity of the initiative, leading EPI to give up on a European card scheme, and leaving this field open for international schemes in the short and medium term. On the other hand, we can also acknowledge that EPI has decided to invest in the next generation of payments: mobile, account-to-account and instant payments. Eight of the first ten European banks and the two largest European payment processors are part of the project. We therefore hope that the launch of the first EPI solutions, expected for the beginning of 2023, will convince other banking communities to join this new digital pan-European solution, which stands as a great chance for the European market to build the independence of the European payments market for the future.