Thank you, Tobias, and good morning, everyone—you are all most welcome!

On behalf of the IMF and our esteemed co‑organizers at the U.S. Federal Reserve and the World Bank, I welcome you to our 23rd annual conference on policy challenges for the financial sector.

For 23 years, this conference has promoted deep thinking on banking supervision, financial sector regulation, bank resolution, and financial stability more broadly. Above all, it has promoted cooperation.

Before I dive into my remarks, let me note up-front that I see you—the international regulatory and supervisory community—as a model of cooperation. You talk to each other. You work together. You meet regularly in conferences such as this one.

Three words from me: keep-it-up!

Here at the Fund, we of course recognize that effective banking supervision is vital to financial stability, which in turn is vital to sustainable economic growth. We are talking about productivity, prosperity, human progress—these are not small things! And yet, without you—the guardians of financial stability—we know how easily economic growth can fall into the canyon of economic despair. You are the ones who hold the line!

Yours is a serious and consequential duty. You can never let down your guard. The world around you changes. Then it changes again. You need to stay ahead of it—and you do.

***

This takes me to my subject today: imagining the financial stability challenges of tomorrow.

Why do I choose this topic?

Because the changes all around us are unfolding at a dramatic pace—much faster than in the past, and probably much faster than we fully realize.

Changes are being driven by many factors—from economic developments to geopolitics to climate—and by the force of ever-accelerating technological advancement.

In finance, blockchain, crypto, tokenization, and central bank digital currencies are healthy challengers to traditional demand-deposit banking.

And, of course, changes are driven by artificial intelligence: “generative AI”—not totally new, yet something that is now poised for breakthrough. Something with true transformative potential. These forces demand our attention.

They pose multi-faceted challenges. On the one hand, they will take our 21st century financial system to a new frontier full of opportunity. On the other hand, we can be sure they will bring new risks.

At a time when we face the grim prospect of the lowest global growth in decades, new technologies—especially AI—have the potential to lift productivity in ways we have never seen before.

I look with hope to the coming revolution in economic productivity. Because it means faster wealth-creation. More people climbing out of poverty. Real gains for real people.

But, to get there, we face the tough job of making sure technological progress creates not just a more-efficient financial system that makes the best use of people’s savings, with high returns and high impacts, but also benefits that stretch far beyond the financial sector.

Access to finance,........

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