Sandra Švaljek: Central banks - observers or leaders of change?

Speech by Ms Sandra Švaljek, Deputy Governor of the Croatian National Bank, at the conference "Money Motion 2023", Zagreb, 9 March 2023.

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

Dear guests,

I remember when governor Vujčić stood here on Lauba stage in December 2020 at the time of Covid restrictions... Today, there are so many more speakers and participants here, many of you from abroad and I would like to congratulate organizers on that, and for bringing together banking, financial and fintech representatives all in one place. Moreover, having both challengers and incumbents here means there may even be a chance for a few of them to engage in coopetition.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

In recent years, we have seen many negative global developments, such as lockdowns, restrictions, supply chain bottlenecks, aggression in Ukraine, oil price shock and sanctions. On the positive side, technology is constantly changing and evolving, revolutionising how we live and work owing to pronounced advancements in computing power, AI and machine learning, 5G technology and cloud computing. It all profoundly affects how we perceive money.

So, the name of this conference - Money Motion- precisely depicts the evolving and shape-shifting nature of money due to these developments. While the diffusion of technologies is accelerating as well, it is precisely in the area of payments where it is the most rapid.