François Villeroy de Galhau: The Pig, the frog and the elephant - towards a better regulation of digital innovation

Speech by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the Singapore Fintech Festival, Paris, 8 December 2020.

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

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to thank my friend and colleague Ravi Menon for inviting me to speak at the Singapore Fintech Festival, in this very innovative hybrid format, and the organisers of the "Choose France for Fintech" event in Paris, where this speech is being broadcast before the speech of Minister Cedric O. Last year, Ravi Menon came to the Banque de France and gave a remarkable speech: "Can the three musketeers click? Finance, technology, trust". Earlier this year, the Banque de France opened a new office in Singapore, one of the epicentres of the Fintech industry. What better forum than the Singapore Fintech Festival to deliver a speech on financial innovation? And what better way than this partner event in Paris to illustrate the excellent relations between France and Singapore?

The subject of innovation and digitalisation is all the more topical in light of the Covid-crisis. Many of you have been following the very ambitious UBIN project that MAS has been carrying out for the past years. You may also know that Pulau Ubin is the name of a wild and protected island in the Straits between Singapore and Malaysia. But you may not know the traditional story of how this island was created: it says that the formation of Pulau Ubin was due to a Frog, a Pig and an Elephant who challenged each other to a race from the island of Singapore to Johor across the Straits. Anyone who failed to cross would be turned into a rock. All three of them failed- But, together, they formed a new ecosystem where life and nature would thrive.