For example, suppose a CBDC or the digital euro is easily and widely accessible across borders or in countries facing financial instability. In such cases the citizens could substitute local currencies with the digital euro and make the domestic financial situation even worse. This is the scenario we must avoid. UNCERTAINTY Finally, we must all ask ourselves in what kind of financial reality we want to end up in because it could be a world of indirect currency competition pursued by private companies only as a matter of industrial and technological race. But, at the same time, we could end up in a world where payments are safe, easy to use and settled instantly - both domestic and international and with negligible costs. But will we end up in a world where our privacy is protected and our trust in the system is preserved in times of crisis? Are we going to put our trust solely in computers, protocols, artificially generated outcomes or centralized private companies' algorithms with a global reach? Or do we want public institutions to do their job, protect our interests when no one else will, and be there when we need them? CENTRAL BANKS - LEADERS OF CHANGE Our mandate is to continue to provide trust in money in the digital age. To be a vital part of this new digital world, a new reality. We must not stay aside and observe while the "The Times They Are A'Changin'" and external factors move our whole world in a strange direction.
Miguel Fernández Ordóñez: Procyclicality in the banking activity Speech by Mr Miguel Fernández Ordóñez, Governor of the Bank of Spain, at the Conference on Procyclicality and the Role of Financial Regulation, organised by the Bank of Spain and the Financial Stability Institute, Madrid, 4 May 2009. *  *  *  Good morning ladies and gentlemen. First of all I would like to welcome you to the Bank of Spain. Also, let me thank you all for your presence here today to discuss on one of the most difficult and relevant topics affecting financial regulation: procyclicality in banking activity. Let me also thank the BIS Financial Stability Institute, and in particular its Chairman, Mr. Josef Tošovský, for all the support and good advice received during these last few weeks during the preparation of this event that we have co-organized. We are very pleased to have as speakers in this conference a large group of excellent professionals who are directly involved in financial supervision and regulation. A high level meeting like this one is a major opportunity to start building up a common and efficient framework in order to face the procyclicality issue. Cyclicality can be considered an inherent part of economic activity. Banking activity is no exception; it is also affected by the upswings and downturns of the real sector cycles. Not only history proves this, but current events do also. Any doubt about this has been violently resolved after the summer of 2007.