Fabio Panetta: The struggle to reshape the international monetary system - slow- and fast-moving processes
Text of the 2025 Whitaker Lecture by Mr Fabio Panetta, Governor of the Bank of Italy, at the Central Bank of Ireland, Dublin, 9 December 2025.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Introduction
I wish to thank the Central Bank of Ireland and Governor Makhlouf for the invitation. It is a privilege to be here, in an institution that still carries the intellectual imprint of Thomas K. Whitaker. His conviction that economic policy must be adaptable, pragmatic and forward-looking remains a powerful guide - even more so today, as we navigate a global environment marked by uncertainty, fragmentation and rapid change.
The topic I will address today - the transformation of the international monetary system (IMS) - has taken on renewed relevance. On April 2, the United States announced the steepest tariff increase since the Great Depression. Markets sold off worldwide and - unusually for a risk-off episode - the dollar weakened. This event was a signal that the dollar-centered order might be subject to closer scrutiny going forward.
As Daniel Kahneman taught us, some processes move slowly, others suddenly and fast - and today's monetary order is being shaped by both.
Slow-moving processes - the rise of major emerging economies, the United States' twin-debt dynamics, and the rebalancing of economic and political weight - are resetting the structure of the global economy.
Fast-moving processes - above all, technology - are transforming how value moves across borders. Innovations such as distributed-ledger technologies and the tokenization of financial instruments are reshaping money and payments, bringing greater efficiency but also novel risks.