François Villeroy de Galhau: Bank of France - how the commitment to fintechs is being implemented Speech by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France and Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de resolution (ACPR), at the ACPR-AMF Forum Fintech, Paris, 11 October 2021. * * * Dear Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to welcome you to the Banque de France this morning for this annual ACPRAMF Fintech Forum – and I would also like to welcome Robert Ophèle, Chairman of the AMF. Mr. Minister, dear Cédric, you have once again given us the pleasure of being present for this second forum. The strong attendance of public officials testifies to our collective commitment to fintechs, which I am convinced are indispensable to the financial sector, as a driver of creativity, vitality and efficiency. Previously a garden in the making, the fintech ecosystem is now growing in leaps and bounds. This is especially the case since these start-ups have benefited from the acceleration of digitisation in finance resulting from the health crisis. Moreover, 2021 was a record year for fundraising in the sector: EUR 1.7 billion had been raised by the end of August 2021, which is already twice as much as for the whole of last year, and this year also saw the birth of the first French fintech “unicorns".
This results in lower production costs. 6  BIS Review 47/2007  The strong growth in labour productivity does not seem to reflect an increase in the real capital behind each person-hour worked, but rather a considerable improvement in labour and capital efficiency. 2 Intensified competition in product markets may have contributed to the subdued rise in prices. New operators have entered markets that were previously fairly sheltered from competition, for example in the grocery trade, building materials, telecommunications, banking and insurance. With general confidence that inflation will be kept in check and that petroleum revenues are only gradually phased into the economy, low import prices, high prices and good market opportunities for our export goods, an ample supply of foreign labour and high productivity growth have made it possible to combine high growth with low inflation. It is possible that some of the driving forces that have boosted the growth potential of the Norwegian economy and restrained inflation may now diminish. Prices for imported goods are now falling at a slower pace. The shift towards imports from low-cost countries was less pronounced in 2006 than in previous years. The rise in prices for oil and other commodities over several years has resulted in a somewhat faster rate of increase in producer and export prices among our trading partners. Measured in foreign currency, prices for imported consumer goods rose in 2006.