Alessandra Perrazzelli: Digitalisation and financial services innovation in the Italian G20 Presidency Agenda

Speech by Ms Alessandra Perrazzelli, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020 – Economic Summit, 7 December 2020.

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

Thank you for inviting me to speak at this very important event. The Italian G20 Presidency officially took off on December 1. Three keywords embody the overarching priority themes of the Presidency: People, Planet, and Prosperity. These 'three Ps' will inspire the agenda of the G20 Finance Track work streams led by Finance Ministers   and Central Bank Governors. We must aim to foster a transformative recovery from the pandemic to a more inclusive and sustainable economy and society, levering on new technologies and digitalization, to bring a brighter future for all. The Italian Presidency will bring a renewed focus on green and sustainable finance issues (which also figure   in the agenda of this event), in particular with initiatives aimed at promoting better quality data and a broader and more comparable climate-related financial disclosure. As to digitalization and financial services innovation – the main theme of this Singapore Festival – taking over from Governor Alkholifey, I confirm that these will continue to be important cross-cutting issues in the G20 Finance Track workprogram also under the Italian Presidency.

As a first example, following up on the G20 Action Plan developed under the Saudi Presidency for sustaining the recovery after the pandemic, the Italian Presidency will promote a discussion in the G20 on the role of new technologies and digital transformation as drivers of productivity gains which can lead to more inclusive and resilient growth. A priority will be to define a menu of policy options providing evidence on best practices for supporting the digital transformation and generating productivity returns.

A second example concerns digitalization applied to infrastructure. The Italian Presidency considers a priority to continue to work on the InfraTech Agenda endorsed under the Saudi Presidency, by focusing on best practices for delivering high-quality and high-impact technological solutions enabling infrastructure resilience, and for addressing disparities between urban and rural areas to reach universal access to connectivity networks.