At that point, their balance sheet was almost 11 times GDP, with the foreign currency part constituting ⅔, or almost 7½ times GDP. And as is always the case in banking, there was a significant maturity mismatch between the asset and liability sides. Compare these numbers to the reserves of the Central Bank of Iceland, which were 21% of GDP at the time; a swap agreement with the Nordic countries amounting to € bn, or around 12% of GDP; and committed credit lines of around 2% of GDP, or a total of around 35%. This is dwarfed by the foreign currency liabilities of the banks, even if some of them were, of course, longer-term. These defences could only buy limited breathing space in the face of a full-scale run on cross-border operations of banks this size. Further research is needed before we can assess to what degree such breathing space would have facilitated a more orderly and less costly episode than the complete collapse that took place. At any rate, it is clear that this limited ability was one of the factors behind the decision not to grant Glitnir a loan of last resort amounting to € m, which it requested on 25 September in order to cover a loan repayment in mid-October.
We only need to think of robotics, artificial intelligence, blockchains, and smart phones with 5G Wi-Fi to realize the extent of the changes that lie ahead for financial services. New technologies also bring opportunities. The Austrian economist, Finance Minister, and banker Joseph Schumpeter demonstrated in the 1920s that successive waves of technological change raise productivity, income, and living standards. However, we know from long experience that technological change often results in costs involving new risks that must be addressed in order to optimise the net benefit. So while FinTech  will broaden consumers’ range of choices in financial intermediation, it also brings new risks, both to the security of transactions and to privacy. To maintain financial stability and real economic activity, we need payment and settlement systems that are secure. As a result, cybersecurity has moved from being a technical issue to a central bank issue. That is why the Nordic central banks have set up this forum for discussion and cooperation so as to foster closer cooperation on cyber resilience and cybersecurity. Today the focus is on financial market infrastructure. One of the questions being asked in this section of the conference is, “What challenges are likely to emerge with new operating models and new actors in the financial sector?” As I said before, the FinTech snowstorm is already here. The newest challenge with respect to cybersecurity is the emergence of new players offering financial services, some of whom have not provided financial services before. The question therefore becomes: What technology are they using?