It also prompts incumbents to adapt, pushing them to develop new business models and new activities that ultimately benefit the customers. In this regard, let me highlight the initiatives to develop instant payments in the SEPA area, to facilitate market-based funding and equity financing in the European Union. I would like also to mention that the Banque de France is conducting its own experiments, with the recent creation of a Lab and the appointment a Chief Digital Officer, Thierry Bedoin, who will moderate the first panel of this afternoon’s session. 2. Technological innovation is to be welcomed but the risks should not be underestimated Innovation brings new threats for the financial system that have to be carefully dealt with: First, it raises challenges in terms of fraud and security, given the multiplication of actors involved in payment and financial processes, the higher circulation of personal data as well as the multiplication of potential “points of failure”. These new “cyber” risks are an acute concern for the whole industry, including for a mature technology such as internet card payments which accounts for more than two thirds of all fraud losses on card payments in France. Thus “younger” technologies that may not have been tested yet, such as the blockchain, and might generate new security risks, deserve early and extended scrutiny. Second, it could endanger financial stability over the longer term, as a result of the process of increased automation that we have seen during the last few years.
Christian Noyer: Regulation in the face of global imbalances Opening speech by Mr Christian Noyer, Governor of the Bank of France and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, at the VIth International Symposium of the Banque de France on “Which regulation for global imbalances?”, Paris, 4 March 2011. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen I am very pleased to welcome you here in Paris to the International Symposium of the Banque de France. As you may know, this symposium is a recurrent event – this is the 6th edition – but this year it has taken a particular significance as it coincides with the French Presidency of the G-20. This presidency occurs at a key moment of the reform of governance and regulation of the global economy. Hence, today’s topic “Regulation in the face of global imbalances” was not chosen at random. However, beyond this proximity with the work of the G-20, I hope this symposium will also provide an excellent opportunity for extending discussions beyond this institutional forum, for strengthening relations between central bankers (there are more than 100 in this room), government officials, business managers and leading academics from around the globe who honour us with their presence today and to whom I would like to extend my warmest thanks. The world economy has experienced major developments over the last two decades. These changes have brought progress – strong growth, low inflation, less poverty – but they have also led to crises.