Frank Elderson: The art of transformation - will banks keep up?

Speech by Mr Frank Elderson, Executive Director of the Netherlands Bank, at the DNB Banking Seminar "The art of transformation - will banks keep up?", Amsterdam, 8 February 2017.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
16 February 2017

Ladies and gentlemen,

Throughout time, mankind has been shaped by wave after wave of changes. Economic boom and bust. Social and political upheaval. Scientific developments that ransformed how we travelled, produced and consumed.

These changes were reflected in - and influenced by - the evolution of banking. In Babylonia, merchants made grain loans to farmers. In ancient Greece, lenders began to accept deposits and change money. And in the 17th century, Amsterdam became a centre of derivatives, short selling and proprietary trading.