In the United States, these rules were not applicable to SVB, as certain exemptions, introduced in 2019 under the proportionality principle, apply to banks that are considered to be less important, this concept being understood in a broad sense since it includes banks with a balance sheet total of up to USD 250 billion. - The post mortem analyses carried out and published by the FED suggest that, had SVB been subject to these rules, it would not have complied with the short-term liquidity ratio as defined by the Basel Committee. Moreover, SVB's heavy reliance on tech companies' deposits should have alerted its supervisor if the additional monitoring tools required by international standards had been put in place. The same FED analyses estimate that SVB's interest rate risk sensitivity was around 35% before the crisis, well above the 15% alert threshold set out in the international rules and supposed to trigger supervisory action. - Monitoring compliance with regulations calls for strict, intrusive and reactive supervision, which, according to the FED, was not the case. Let me reassure you on one point: the European situation is radically different. The Basel Committee's rules are applied in Europe in their entirety and to all banks. By the way, I would like to add that Europe is in the process of finalising the transposition into European law of the latest reinforcements of the Basel III agreements, ahead of the other major jurisdictions.
More specifically, this could involve requiring that financial and related activities be grouped and segregated under a specific structure and, in the event of a systemic footprint, applying the banking framework to these "financial sub-groups" as long as the activities are similar in nature to those of banks. As regards crypto-assets, while MiCA is a regulatory milestone, it needs to be rapidly complemented with additional requirements to extend its scope, in particular to address two issues that are heightening the existing risks posed by crypto-assets. First, it will be necessary to address the challenge raised by the concentration of crypto-asset service activities within so-  7  called crypto-conglomerates. The challenge is to guarantee investor protection, for example by imposing segregation of client funds, rules of good conduct and risk management for intermediaries, and even the unbundling of activities. Next, we need to devise rules to regulate the decentralised finance ecosystem (DeFi). Last April, the ACPR published a discussion paper for consultation that presents the challenges posed by this regulatory development, which could take a hybrid form between traditional financial regulation and regulation inspired by other economic sectors. I'll say no more about it and leave you to discover it, hoping to have aroused your curiosity. Conclusion To quote your director,2 "to specify, design and implement (and I would like to add, to master) the intelligent and connected systems that will transform our society on a daily basis", as future trained engineers, I know that the few elements I have just outlined will resonate with you.