Jennifer Tescher: Central Bank of the Future Conference Keynote Address (Day 2) | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
 
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Jennifer Tescher: Central Bank of the Future Conference Keynote Address (Day 2)

October 3, 2019 0:47:26
Kaltura Video

Jennifer Tescher, President and CEO of Financial Health Network, presents her keynote address for the Central Bank of the Future Conference. Learn more here.

Transcript:

So good morning welcome back for those of
you here yesterday welcome for those of

you are here for the 1st time today
this is the 2nd day of our a conference

who says you can't have a little bit of
cartoon fun at a central making conference

want to thank Jay Campbell for
putting that video together was really

nice new touch for us to do a promo
video with a cartoon in it.

I'm really excited for
today's conversation.

Adrian and I together as you know
are leading this project with

the Gates Foundation to identify
technology business and

policy innovations that central banks
could employ to a better Foster financial

inclusion a Yesterday we had a great
conversation instead of conversations and

a great keynote speech from Mary Ellen
Iskenderian of women's world banking about

the gender gap in access to financial
services and some strategies central

banks can use to increase access for
women and to improve.

Local economies today we're
going to hear in just a moment

with a keynote from Jennifer Tasher
of the financial health network.

Formerly c.f.s.

I can't quite let go of
that former moniker and

Jan has really been a leader in the u.s.

in changing the conversation about
financial inclusion to focus not just on

access to financial products and
services but to a more holistic view

of financial health and so we're delighted
she's here we're going to hear more about.

That from her in just a moment.

We're obviously an air of great
technological change lot of innovation

lot of.

New products and services being
offered new players in the market and

over the course of the day we're going to
hear about many of those innovations and

how central banks might respond
to those innovations or

help lead innovation an org.

Out of the way of innovation
depending on one's perspective and

really excited not only for
the speakers who are going to be hearing

from up here but also incredibly
knowledgeable members of the audience.

Again from all over the world so

we're going to have a plenty of time for
interactive conversation for a q.

and a discussion in the breaks and
looking forward to that as well

so before we dive in just
a few key housekeeping items

you're currently in the auditorium and
will spend most of the day here coffee and

refreshments will be in the atrium our 1st
keynote speaker will be in here and then.

We'll hear from our 1st panel at lunch
we'll go back to the Great Lakes room down

the hall and we'll be there for
our 2nd panel discussion

following the panel the 2nd panel will
return to this room for panels 3 and 4 and

our closing Keno at the end of each
keynote our panel if there's time to do so

will open the 4 to questions look out for
the mike runners and

please do use them as Remember we have our
online audience watching them with us over

the next couple days you should also feel
free to tweet or use your Linked In and

promote the conference has tag
central bank of the future or

b o t f You got that right so
we welcome your tweets and

social media outlets from that's so
without further delay It's my

pleasure to introduce our keynote
speaker this morning Jennifer tester of

the financial Health Network Jennifer
is the president and c.e.o.

of the financial health network
the nation's authority on consumer

financial health.

She founded the financial
health network and c.f.s.

in 2004 and has since achieved notable
success as a champion for increased

access to high quality financial products
and services for under-served consumers

the research that the financial health
network puts out is 2nd to none and really

a wonderful resource for everybody in this
space including most recently the u.s.

financial health goals I would
recommend is a must read for

everybody in this room and online Jennifer
is a nationally known thought leader

on the topic of consumer financial health
often contributing to American Banker and

Forbes She's a frequent speaker across
a broad spectrum of industry and

policy convening zinc looting everything
from Money 2 $1020.00 in Vegas

to the Department of Treasury in d.c.

she launched the financial health
network's annual conference emerge

the financial health forum which presents
cutting edge thought leadership and

showcases innovators executives and

emerging companies in the financial
services industry Jennifer also

received Crane's Chicago business
40 under 40 Award in 2006 and

is currently an advisory council
member to actually on Center for

Financial Inclusion she received
undergraduate and graduate degrees in

journalism from Northwestern University
and a public policy degree from

the University of Chicago I also have the
unique privilege of working with Jennifer

as a member of the board of directors
of the financial health network so

I get an up close view on this amazing
woman and all the critical work

that she does so I feel particularly lucky
to be able to introduce her today and

I think we're all very lucky to have
her open our day 2 of this conference.

Thank you.

Good morning.

That was kind of weak people it's
early Calabria outside Good morning.

Thank you so much Adrian for that really
lovely introduction and thanks to both you

and to Michael for having me here and
for making me feel like a rock star with

all those crazy tweets you've been
sending out about my speaking here.

Really I'm incredibly honored to be in
such incredible company I'm quite humbled

by it this is and really expert audience
and I know that I have a lot to learn so

I'm really looking forward to the rest of
today and I hope you'll take my remarks

this morning as just some food for
thought as we continue the conversations

so when I was 1st asked to come and
speak with you I found myself.

For mixed because it's really hard to
think about the central bank of the future

and and where you want to go without
getting stuck on how you get there.

And then it was Bill Gates who got
me unstuck maybe not directly but

when I called Adrian to say hey help you
know how do I think about this she said

don't worry about it Bill said go out 50
years don't be constrained by what we

know about central banks today you know
just think about where you want to be

then we'll figure out how to make it
possible and I said that's something I can

do some might find that intimidating but
for me it really freed me up to be more

creative I was less worried
about how to get there and

more focused on where we want to be and
so I have to wishes for

the central bank of 50 years
from now one that the financial

health of the citizenry is as important
a goal as the health of the economy

and to that data assets
are understood to be at least as

important as financial assets and
are regulated and managed as such.

So I'm going to talk about each of my
wishes in the rest of this talk and

I'm going to explain what they have to do
with each other if it's not already clear

but 1st let me just say a little bit
more about who I am so that you can put

my remarks into context as Adrian
already said I'm the founder and c.e.o.

of the financial health network which
until just May was known as the Center for

Financial services innovation and the
organization has been around 15 plus years

so you'll forgive Michael and potentially
even me if I stumble over my new name

we're a resource to business
leaders innovators and

policymakers who are working to improve
the financial health of their customers

employees and
communities we lead a network of

$160.00 plus companies including
most of the big brands and

cutting edge in techs in the financial
services industries in the u.s.

we invest in and support early stage
innovators using technology to solve

financial health challenges and

we have about a portfolio of about
40 companies and organizations

we publish an annual annual
National Longitudinal Survey the u.s.

financial health polls that measures the
financial health of people in America and

we've developed a measurement
methodology and

a set of tools to enable
a wide array of companies and

organizations to measure the financial
health of their stake holders often as

part of a broader effort to implement
financial health as a business strategy

now let me give you a few caveats my
entire career has been focused on the u.s.

market and while I've participated in the
global dialogue on financial inclusion and

I'm a member of the Advisory Council for
the Center for Financial inclusion and

oxy you know and I have relied on many of
the people in this room to teach me about

the context in developing countries and
I still have very much to learn

in addition I am not
an economist I am not a lawyer.

I have been a banker.

But I self identify as a former
journalist a financial health expert and

a lover of audacious ideas that
can make the world a better place

Ok so on to my 1st wish the financial
health of the citizenry

is as important a goal as
the health of the economy so

the 1st question you may be asking is why
financial health not financial inclusion

and in fact I was just sitting with
someone I've just met and his financial

health You mean like managing people stock
portfolios said no no no don't buy my can

answer right now because you're going to
be really bored for the next hour or so.

Well the reason why we need to be thinking
beyond financial inclusion is because of

the incredible success of the people
in this of the people in this room at

the rate we're going we're going to be on
track to solve the pure inclusion problem

well before 50 years from now according
to fin backs just in the last

8 years the share of adults who own an
account through a financial institution or

a mobile money service has increased
18 points from 51 percent to 69 percent

that is remarkable
there's no other word for

it it's remarkable Now there's
lots of issues that remain

we've talked about dormancy I know
that those numbers aren't quite

as rosy in developing countries I'm
not saying we've got it all solved but

if we think that having an account or
having access is the 1st step we have made

incredible progress and
in fact the financial inclusion community

over the last couple of years as really
begun to grapple with what comes after

inclusion and I would argue that what
comes next is a focus on financial health.

This really reflects on my journey and
the organization's journey

we started life as an organization
that was started to shine a spotlight

on the needs of on and under banked
consumers here in the United States and

the role that technology could
play in helping get them connected

and this is 2004 so this is the year
that Google went public it was the year

that Mark Zuckerberg invented
the Facebook in his dorm room but

this was pre i Phone so you know we knew
the technology was coming and changing but

we have course I'd be lying if I said I
had any clue what was really to come.

And so when you think about the invent in
the United States at least the invention

of prepaid cards coupled with the i Phone
which came out in 2007 it really made

access ubiquitous That's not to say there
aren't people in the United States or in

other developed countries who don't have
a bank account but it's incredibly small.

People who may be unbanked today may
have had an account yesterday and

they may have a know it
one again tomorrow and

so the sort of basic
inclusion problem felt.

Like we were on the cusp of solving it and
then we had the financial crisis in

the Great Recession and
that made it clear that all was not well

with everybody and that in fact the
majority of people in this country were

struggling financially and we just missed
it we were capturing the wrong data

we didn't see the the fact that people
were dramatically over indebted and

that that was helping them essentially
finance their basic lives and

so that's when we came to understand
that access wasn't enough.

And that we needed to be thinking
about the next chapter and

that's when we invented this
idea of financial health

which I'm going to tell
you about in a moment.

Now I think you already know this but
I do need to make the point that owning

an account itself is great but it's not
sufficient we talked yesterday about

India where amazingly the government
facilitated opening accounts for

everybody but half of them are dormant
I can give very similar statistics in

the United States 89 percent of people
in the United States according to our

research have a checking account but
of those 68 percent are not

financially healthy 30 percent aren't
able to pay their bills on time and

39 percent wouldn't be able to pay
an emergency $400.00 expense with cash or

a cash equivalent Moreover owning
an account isn't always a good thing

just look at the overdraft
problem in the United States

where 7 of some of the largest banks
the United States generate at least

30 percent of their service
charge income from overdrafts and

consumers are paying the numbers
are not as clear as they should be but

anywhere from $10.00 to
$20000000000.00 with a b.

each year on overdrafts look at lending
products both in the United States and

around the world that give
lenders huge power to collect

because they have access
to that bank account so

what I'm here to talk about today and what
I really think we should care about and

central banks should ultimately care
about is the outcome that we want for

people what happens after you on that
account and you use it we want people to

be financially healthy we need to raise
the bar beyond consumers just being

financially literate protected and banked
which again are all 3 very important

things but those alone aren't don't
necessarily mean financial well being.

So what is financial health we define it
as having a database system that enables

you to build resilience and
thrive or to pursue opportunities.

Many other organizations
including the c.f.p.

here in the United States have their own
definitions they are all roughly the same

they may use slightly different words but
they're all about the idea of having

systems today that allow you to prepare
for tomorrow both managing the downside

and the upside so what's the state of
financial health the United States.

Well we created a set of indicators how
do you know if you're financially healthy

after years of research
there are 8 indicators

they are coupled around 4 basic.

Functions that we all need spending
saving borrowing and planning and

each one of those has 2 indicators and
they're not rocket science so

the indicators for Spend are I have
more coming in than goes out and

I can pay all my bills on time and in full
just to give you a flavor or for saving

it's I have enough short term savings and
I have enough long term savings.

And we've actually developed a school or

a financial health score on a scale of 0
to 100 and so when we survey people and

ask them these 8 questions we are able
to group them into 3 categories.

Healthy coping and vulnerable and
we're also able to give them a score

and when we do that in the United States
we find that only 28 percent are healthy

55 percent are coping and
17 percent are vulnerable

now I want to just be clear this
is an intentionally high bar.

This is not graded on a curve.

And coping means you're
doing Ok in some for

some people they're doing
more Ok than others but.

So it's a nice headline to say 72 percent
of Americans aren't financially healthy

but there is a lot of there it's
important to desegregate the data

as I think what I would say and
we do that in our polls report so

what are we doing with all this
measurement in the United States well

we're working with members of our network
who are taking these exact same questions

and measuring the financial health of
their own customers these are banks then

tax other kinds of and actual services
providers so insurance companies

and they're then able to benchmark
against national regional averages and

they're also able to break
down their own mental.

Sort of preconceptions about who they
think their customers are versus what

the reality is for those customers and
they're then able to use that data and

understanding to build
products services experiences

policies marketing
campaigns that are really.

Aimed at trying to improve
where their customers need help

we've got a moment 50 companies doing that
some of them have been doing it now for

several years there they
have year on year data

some of them are now starting to use
their own transactional data in place of

survey questions to be able
to assess those indicators

which is incredibly exciting because
it makes it easier for everybody.

And we also see measurement
starting to happen around the world

into other developed countries
in particular a strange

tremendous amount of work by
Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

There is a new national Canadian

measurement survey the results
of which will be out in

November I'll be in your city in
Toronto to talk about them but t.d.

bank has been working on

there's been some interest in
Western Europe in doing something similar.

And so we're really excited to see
this catching on not just because

it's nice to know but because we
can't hold ourselves accountable for

the financial health of our customers or
even our employees for that matter if

we're not measuring how can we know
what works with the new products and

new services and new things that we're
offering if we're not actually able to

measure now some of you may be
asking what is the relevance

of this framework to the developing world
well several years ago in partnership with

Axiom we did some work to
understand that very question

thanks to support from the Gates
Foundation we did work in Kenya and India.

To understand how they related to this
concept from a qualitative perspective we

found that people use very similar words
to define financial health in Kenya in

India as they do in the United States we
then developed a tailored set of potential

indicators recognising that you know these
these contexts are quite different and

the look the questions indicators
are going to be exactly the same and

we also recognise the need to
consider other issues like

absolute income level is there
a level below which this is just not

this is not relevant you know
this is not on masses hierarchy.

The role one plays in one's household I'm
thinking a lot about Mary Allen's comments

yesterday the Meet the even more dramatic
levels of income Bala Tilly Now Gates

is finding some additional work
happening right now it through i.p.s.a.

to develop the right set of survey
questions to actually measure

the indicators effectively I can tell
you this is really hard I can tell you

they've tried and the 1st go around didn't
yield the results they were hoping for

they're going back to the drawing
board doing this cross country

is just incredibly challenging but
I the initial work we did

gives me hope that that there might be
an opportunity for a common framework and

set of language that we can all use to
be having this conversation globally

so what would it mean for central banks
to have information about the financial

health of the citizenry Well it might
enable the creation of a dual mandate

that the economy is healthy and
the health of citizens are healthy and

it seems like they should be one in
the same thing at beating each other but

it's not necessarily the case so for
instance in the United States when

the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates
to encourage borrowing and grow and

do encourage growth particularly
among businesses and

corporations those lower
interest rates can be harmful to

individual savers especially
older Americans nearing or

in retirement who are really
counting on that.

That interest that they're earning there's
clearly a connection between macroeconomic

health and microeconomic health consumer
financial challenges are often the canary

in the coal mine that signals that
the broader economy is headed for trouble

consider the subprime mortgage meltdown in
the United States that triggered the last

financial crisis yet academics and
central banks tend to consider macro and

micro economics in isolation from
each other as separate disciplines.

If the macro economy is the balance
sheet and the my girl economy is the p.

and l.

then what we're really missing in a way is
the cash flow statement that connects them

and I think that financial health data
may turn out to be an effective linkage

understanding this linkage is critical
to designing policies that can improve

overall economic health without
sacrificing Main Street for Wall Street or

vice versa which is to say
financial inclusion and

ultimately financial health need to be
more than just a standalone mandate or

function ultimately it needs to be
integrated into the broader role of

central banks and it needs to be part of
their purpose that's a word we didn't

really talk about a lot yesterday we
talked about what the remit is what

the roles are what the functions are but
if we're thinking about 50 years what

we really need to start from is what's
the purpose I think that's really

important Ok on to wish number 2
which number 2 is that data assets

are understood to be at least as important
as financial assets and are regulated and

managed as such for
the last 10 plus years we have been in

thrall with the rise of new technologies
that have literally changed

how we live our lives including our
financial lives technology gets

a massive share of the credit for the
progress that has been made in inclusion

the power of financial technology
to expand access to and

use of accounts is probably demonstrated
best in Subsaharan Africa and

Africa where 21 percent of adults
now have a mobile money account

that's twice the number twice
the present in 20 or 2014 and

easily the highest of any region in
the world but technology alone isn't

going to get us to financial If technology
is the car than data is the fuel

you've no doubt heard the expression
that data is the new oil.

And that's not just figurative So

consider the world's most valuable
companies by market capitalization

10 years ago just 10 years ago
3 of the top 10 were oil and

gas companies another 3 were
banks today the end of the 3rd

quarter 21005 of the top 10

were data platforms
Amazon Google Facebook Ali Baba and

10 cent Microsoft is number
one there are no oil and

gas companies on that list and
there's only one bank that's in

10 years the increasing
sophistication of technology and

computing power have crowned data King and
that's particularly

true in financial services the integrity
of ail ability security and

portability of data are increasingly
at the heart of the banking system and

the financial system more broadly
consumers particularly lower income

consumers often generate more data
assets that are more valuable

in the market than their financial assets
so consider what we've learned from

the financial diaries methodology that was
pioneered around the globe and then we

copied you several years ago in the United
States and in partnership with n.y.u.

and Jonathan Moredock and my partner
colleague Rachel Snyder We applied

the methodology in the United States and
followed $235.00 low and moderate income

families for a year documenting
every dollar that flowed in and

out of their households by
the end we had gathered

300000 cash flows covering

$100.00 different spending
categories 38 income types and

69 kinds of financial instruments.

The dollar value of the inflows and
outflows from the typical savings account

vastly exceeded the total accumulation
this kind of data and the use of it and

this the consumer's control over it is
an essential ingredient in the recipe for

financial health and inclusion consider
the big topics on today's agenda am l.

Well that's fundamentally about identity
how can I prove that you are who you say

your block changed while I know that
there are some incredible innovation

going on around digital currencies many of
the use cases today are really focused on

distributed ledger as a more
efficient way of keeping track of

the data about who owns what I mean that's
what a ledger is right it's just a way

to keep track of data data is power and

consumers don't really have very much
power because they generally don't own and

control their own data what
could they do if they did

well they could shop more effectively for
financial products having

provided having providers bidding for
their business they could trade it for

preferential pricing they could use it for
identity verification

they could provide it to a lender for
credit underwriting in the u.s.

and in other highly developed economies
Ai fueled by consumer data is being used

to optimize decision making when to pay
a bill how much to sweep into savings

how to avoid a potential overdraft
many of the companies that we've

invested in are pioneering exactly
these kinds of solutions central

banks have a major stake in this issue in
terms of both managing risk and creating

the conditions for economic growth and
opportunity given the constant attacks on

bank data systems by state actors
central banks should be worried about

both the systemic risk of breaches and the
impact of breaches on consumer wellbeing.

Meanwhile as I said a moment ago
empowering consumers to control their own

data has the power to create more market
competition and drive positive financial

health outcomes central banks around the
world have been set up to manage financial

assets their liquidity their quality and
the procedures processes and

capital necessary to maintain
a stable system they are not set up

to provide the same services and
protections when it comes to data assets.

In fact no one is

the world is really just beginning to
reckon with this issue providers in Europe

are really the 1st guinea pigs trying to
figure out how to balance a set of g.d.p.

our requirements to keep
data private with the p.s.t.

to requirements to securely
share data a stray seems to

be headed down a similar path and while
there is a law in the United States that

suggests that consumers indeed own their
own financial data there are no enabling

regulations and so with that void
industry has taken the self-regulation

route working collectively on
technology technical standards but

largely cobbling the rest of the rules
via 2 party contracts between banks and

data aggregators and
in a market with $6000.00 plus banks

that's not going to end well I suspect
I believe there's a critical role for

central banks to play in ensuring
that consumers are empowered and

that actually brings me
back to wish number one so

my 2 wishes may be unrelated may seem
unrelated at 1st glance one that financial

health of the citizenry is as important
a goal as the health of the economy and

to that data assets are understood to be
at least as important as financial assets

and are regulated and managed as such but

in fact they are deeply interconnected
central banks play a major

role in ensuring consumers are empowered
to own and control their financial data.

Only makes sense in a world where central
banks are responsible not just for

a healthy economy but also also propel
through the citizenry and of central banks

are going to hold themselves accountable
for the financial health of citizens then

they're going to need data of their own
to measure and monitor financial health

in the United States I want to
commend the Federal Reserve for

being proactive on the data front
the primary tool the Fed has for

understanding what goes on with households
has been for years now the survey

of consumer finance which is essentially
a try annual survey of the ledger

who owns what now 6 years ago as
our financial diaries findings and

the importance of cash flow and income
ball to Lety were coming to light the Fed

added a new annual survey to its arsenal
the survey of household economics and

decision making or shed it provides
a far more nuanced view of the real

financial lives of Americans and as a 1st
step in taking a more holistic approach

to stewarding the economy but
to highlight the cultural challenges

involved in thinking differently
about the role and purpose of central

banks consider that the shed is included

on the Fed's website under
the consumers and communities tab.

As opposed to the survey of consumer
finance data which you can find under both

the economic research tab and
the data tabs but

you won't find a shed in
either of those 2 categories

as I said I really like big ideas

it's easy to talk about big ideas frankly
especially when you've got 50 years but

it's a lot harder to figure out how we get
there from here and there are numerous

obstacles legal regulatory
cultural political.

And I expect that most of the conversation
today is going to unearth those challenges

and enable us to grapple with them as
we get into the much needed weeds and

details I hope you will hold in
the back of your mind my 2 wishes

along with whatever your wishes might
be for the central bank of the future

this convening and the central bank of
the Future initiative give me hope that

together we can both dream big and
then make those dreams a reality

thanks very much thank you.

I'm happy to take questions I think
they're coming around with a microphone

I think she had a question Hello My Name

is why only Luella number the co-founder
and president of a farm but

which is a fin taken trade tech
solution for the African market and

I love how you separate financial
inclusion from financial health.

But I was very curious to know what
are the 3 buckets of measurement for

financial hope that you mentioned to you
1st see a need to blend that we fight

Coast schools to get a much better
deeper appreciation because a lot of

times people don't know what they quit
school means what it can get them or

how they can use it and leverage it and
where we all on the continent we don't

even have that so I'm very curious
to know whether there is a move for

such a concept right well
that's interesting and

this I think is a difference of
contexts in the United States.

Where there is a robust credit bureau
system I would say most people including

most lenders would tell you the credit
score is insufficient tool for actually.

Separating goods from bads.

And.

Me We particularly learned that in
the crisis in the financial crisis and

in fact here there's efforts and have been
for quite a while to bring in as much

additional data as possible that's
not credit credit bureau data and

so we see a financial
health score if you will

as really a more holistic view into.

Consumer wellbeing and for
instance under the Baro indicators which

would be relevant in this conversation
they are I have a good credit score so

that's kind of factored in and then
the other is I have a manageable debt load

and unlike a lot of credit
underwriting for say.

A lot and

unlike a lot of credit underwriting
we're also including in their.

Rental payments other basic things so
that you know what we would think of

as being reasonable might be less than
what a traditional lender might consider.

I don't I don't I'm not at all suggesting
that I think our score should be a pure

replacement for the credit score nor are
we doing any work with consumers directly

to say hey you should know what your
financial health score is we're a long way

from that even being a possibility
however some of the companies that

we're working with are putting if in some
cases a score and in some cases simply.

Explanatory information about hey you took
this survey here's what we're learning

about your financial wherewithal here's
some advice about what you might want to

do so
we do have some early learnings about.

What that experience is like for
the customer or the employee to receive

that information how do you handle that
conversation what else do you need to

provide alongside that or
in addition how do you keep this front and

center in people's minds I think in
countries with less developed or

completely undeveloped credit markets I
think there's an incredible opportunity in

the same way at the payments you
just leap frogged right over.

To digital I think there's going to
be an incredible opportunity as more

people are connected into the system

to be generating the kind of data that
that if they have the power to own and

use can be very powerful if not there
are huge downside risks here that I don't

want to overlook right not just by data
security and privacy but also about.

You know who's using your data and
for what purpose so

I that's why I think
the ownership question and

the empowering the citizens to own and
control their own data is going to be so

important I sholl most central bank.

The 2 wishes that you spoke about
this morning very comparing So

the 1st is you said around or
central bankers looking and

focusing not only on the economic
the broader economic wellbeing but

that of the citizens and
the 2nd about looking at data and

putting data ownership at
the hands of the individuals.

I was hoping or I thought you were going
to land around monetizing that data for

the benefit of each of the citizens
is that anywhere near what

you think the future holds because
I was making the connection between

how healthy you are in terms of
your incomings and outgoings and

how do you generate if you can generate
financial assets if you generate data

assets can that actually make you more
well off so if you could speak about that.

Exactly what.

Yes that is that is absolutely
a possibility and in.

In the United States for instance that's
a that's a real topic of conversation I

met with a senior executive at one of the
3 credit bureaus here in the United States

a few weeks ago and
he said The future is user permission and

data so that's the in-between
step you know that's not it's not

credible as a ready to say you
know you can only control it but.

Increasingly that's the.

Least got to be user permission so and

I think this conversation comes up a lot
in the context not of financial data or

assets per se financial data but

around your social data what you're
generating off Amazon Facebook etc But

I think absolutely the same idea holds for
financial data and.

If we can build platforms and
systems and processes that will work for

financial grade data it
will apply elsewhere.

So that was a really intriguing
lecture I think one.

I think important consideration
is if the central banks or

to have expanded a man days that
would include presumably not only

their traditional mandates of price
stability and and some jurisdictions for

employment but
were to include financial health

would it also require that central banks
be accorded it broader set of tools

to achieve those mandates right now
it's quite difficult for central banks

to achieve you know their current
mandates using their existing tools so

do they need you know for instance
the ability to engage in more fiscal

what were traditionally regarded as fiscal
measures to provide subsidies you know for

instance for certain sectors
to stimulate the economy or

at the same time insulating say
savers from some of those effects

as an excellent question I actually
maybe you're going to you're going to.

Think that I'm punting but I actually
think that's a political question.

More than that mandate or
purpose question.

I think it's a challenging question and
one of the it's interesting because one of

the things we talked about
yesterday in our small groups.

Was this idea that in less
developed markets in a funny way.

The central bank is playing all roles and

that as an economy grows more
bigger more sophisticated etc

that it may be that some of those roles
peel off because they're end up being

other regulators other
government entities and so.

It could be that in answer to your
question it may not be the Fed or

Sydney or a central bank.

That needs those tools it may be that
there are other entities in that country's

system that ultimately need to be part
of playing that was playing that role.

I think in a in an in an in a company
that's in a country that's an entirely or

stage it's easier to imagine
them having those kind of tools

thank you just as an add on to this
question of this dialogue 1st of all

congratulations to the organizers this is
a really kick **** event it's great and

that one of the things that I think we
are doing here is a compliment such a few

things and maybe a bit of fair.

Semantic things I mean I think we're
using central bank is of a catch all term

many central banks around the world not
all and not the majority necessarily

have supervisory authority but many don't
so that a lot of the issues that we're

talking about also crosses again across
that supervisory issue and when you look

at financial inclusion whether it's
in the course of the surance or

other areas we do a lot of work in that
area trauma center we collaborate with c.

gap and some of your other organizations
one thing to think about is that

risk based approach to supervision
like just because something is being

supervised in a developed jurisdiction and
you have all these k.y.

see requirements and
everything that are so on or

is it doesn't mean that when you go into
a less developed jurisdiction you have to

apply the very same rigor to
the smallest of items right and in order

to bring that proportionality you have to
have that risk approach otherwise what you

do is you just go with a checklist of all
the risks in the world so if you if all of

the risks are your priorities you have no
priority in terms of risk management so I

think that perspective needs to be brought
into this kind of a discussion as well so.

The core mandate of the central bank
is monetary policy correct in many

instances they do supervision just
to sum up not all central banks or

supervisors right I personally
appreciate that perspective and

I agree I completely agree about
the need for tearing risk.

I would say though in
the context of my remarks.

What it fundamentally what I'm
encouraging central bankers to think

about is the idea that by
having a more holistic approach

to putting the actual citizen
at the center of their.

Monetary policy and or supervision that
the stick of regulation is not always

the smartest tool in the in the toolkit
and it gives you frankly more

opportunities the example I like to
give a lot is is around overdraft.

In the United States right
it's a big battle about.

Should it be regulated like credit or
is it a service and

you know people are paying billions of
dollars a year but the fact is if we

as a country had succeeded in
speeding up our payment system

we wouldn't have overdrafts in the 1st
place so central banks and governments

need to be thinking about a broader set
of tools than just the regulatory stick.

Thank you for being here
Brian I'm a current student here.

I appreciated your points about data
thinking about data as an asset and

the question of who should be
able to have control over that.

But I wonder if you have any thoughts
about the other side of the balance sheet

data as a liability.

I think my.

Thinking here comes from thinking about
like Equifax right where regulators

kind of $25.47 people
$18000000000.00 off balance sheet

liability that's more like the market
cap is like $16000000000.00

more than the value of the company that a
liability that doesn't show up anywhere so

how should the central bank be
thinking about that in terms of like

the financial health of the economy
I think that's a really great point.

In 50 years ideally we
wouldn't have honeypots like

Equifax sitting with
stale databases of data.

And in a fully built out.

Vision of consumer owning
controlling their own data.

And distributed Ledger technology.

You sort of avoid that problem that's
not to say there aren't liabilities in

the system and
we don't need to think about that.

It ends up being I think a very
different different problem but

I guess this is 50 years
I'm dreaming big here and.

I said thank you so much thank you.