The 25th Meeting of ASEAN-India Joint Cooperation Committee (AIJCC), convened today at ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, took stock of ASEAN-India cooperation and discussed possible areas of future cooperation to further advance the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN, Elizabeth Te, and Ambassador of India to ASEAN, Jayant N. Khobragade, co-chaired the Meeting. The Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN and their respective delegations were in attendance along with representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat. Representative from Timor-Leste attended as observer.
The post The 25th Meeting of ASEAN-India Joint Cooperation Committee convenes at ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, this morning welcomed the Ambassador of Timor-Leste to ASEAN, H.E. Natércia Cipriana Coelho da Silva, for a meeting at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. The meeting discussed Timor-Leste’s membership in ASEAN, particularly the progress in the implementation of the Roadmap for Timor-Leste’s Full Membership in ASEAN. SG Dr. Kao reaffirmed the ASEAN Secretariat’s continued support and assistance to Timor-Leste in achieving the criteria outlined in the Roadmap, including through the operationalisation of the Timor-Leste Unit.
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Headline: Balancing Environmental Considerations and Cost Optimization to Shape the Future of Sustainable Procurement: Daisuke Okumura
Key Figure in Raw Material Procurement for Sustainable EV Batteries
Daisuke Okumura
Engineering Procurement Promotion Department, Procurement DivisionMobility Energy Business DivisionPanasonic Energy Co., Ltd.
Okumura joined the company in 2003, initially handling rare metal sales at the Corporate International Trade Division (at the time). He later spent five and a half years in Shanghai, China, gaining experience in group-wide centralized contracts for battery materials, steel, and resins. After returning to Japan, he engaged in lithium-ion battery material procurement. He is currently involved in cost reduction for raw materials, supplier selection, and BOM*¹ cost management, primarily for automotive applications.
＊1: Bill of Materials (BOM): The total cost of all components and materials required for product manufacturing.
Taking on the Challenge of Reducing Environmental Impact Across the Entire Supply Chain
As increasing importance is placed on sustainability and ESG, the role of procurement has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Sustainable procurement is now a key element of environmental consideration and social responsibility. In addition to the traditional Quality, Cost, and Delivery (QCD) criteria, reducing environmental impact has become a key factor in supplier selection.
In the value chain of automotive lithium-ion batteries, a substantial portion of CO₂ emissions arises from raw material extraction, processing, and transportation, more so than battery production itself. Notably, the procurement of cathode and anode materials associated with battery performance and safety accounts for nearly half of these emissions. In response, Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. has set a goal to halve its carbon footprint (CFP)*² by FY2030 compared to FY2021. To achieve this, the company is advancing initiatives to minimize environmental impact across the supply chain in addition to realizing net zero CO₂ emissions at its own plants (becoming carbon neutral).
Additionally, procurement must quickly adapt to price fluctuations caused by factors beyond our control, such as geopolitical risks and policy changes. To enhance resilience, we are not only diversifying supply sources but also working closely with customers to identify and secure safer, higher-quality raw materials, strengthening the resilience of our procurement operations.
＊2: Carbon Footprint (CFP): CO₂ emissions converted from greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire product life cycle—from raw material procurement to disposal and recycling of a product or service.
Increasing the Local Procurement Rate to Accelerate a Sustainable Procurement Strategy
Various initiatives are underway in the United States, the key battleground for automotive lithium-ion batteries. Since 2019, Panasonic Energy has partnered with the US-based battery recycling company Redwood Materials. Together, they are working to establish the first cathode material recycling system in the US by recycling battery waste materials from Panasonic Energy of North America’s factory and using them to manufacture new cathode materials.If successfully implemented, this initiative will also enhance local procurement rates in the US, aligning with the goal of strengthening North American supply chains. However, ensuring economic feasibility is critical to its success. In addition to improving material recycling rates, extensive discussions and negotiations are ongoing to keep costs competitive with existing cathode materials in the market.
We showcased NMG’s environmentally friendly graphite powder at the Panasonic booth at CES 2025.
Until now, much of the graphite used in anode materials came from Asia, creating issues with transportation costs and environmental impact. To address these issues, we have signed a long-term supply agreement with Canada-based Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG), a company that produces graphite using renewable energy from hydropower.By accelerating this sustainable procurement strategy, we aim to reduce the CFP of battery production and establish a low-environmental-impact supply chain.
In the increasingly competitive market for automotive lithium-ion batteries, survival depends not only on quality and cost but also on speed. Introducing new materials, including the evaluation process, has traditionally taken several years. This is too slow to keep up with rapid global changes.Recognizing this challenge, we are reviewing evaluation methods, risk management processes, and other key procedures. By working closely with our customers to gain their understanding and cooperation, we are working to shorten the time required for material adoption.
Leading the Development of a Circular Economy for EV Batteries
Our goal is to first build an environmentally conscious supply chain in the US to establish a circular economy for automotive lithium-ion batteries and then expand the initiative to Japan. To scale these efforts, connecting recycling companies and cathode material manufacturers is essential, creating a cohesive ecosystem. While there are significant technological and cost-related challenges to overcome, advocating for the importance of tackling these issues and leading the way is a crucial role of procurement.
Panasonic Energy’s mission is “Achieving a society in which the pursuit of happiness and a sustainable environment are harmonized and free of conflict.” To me, harmony means balancing environmental responsibility with economic viability. Without achieving this balance, our mission cannot be fulfilled. It is an extremely challenging goal, but by driving reforms with both caution and boldness, we are committed to advancing the adoption of EVs—key to realizing a decarbonized society—and will continue to take on this challenge with determination.
Touring a factory to select a new supplier (Okumura is second from the left)
The content in this website is accurate at the time of publication but may be subject to change without notice.Please note therefore that these documents may not always contain the most up-to-date information.Please note that German, French and Chinese versions are machine translations, so the quality and accuracy may vary.
Headline: Aiming for a company where all individuals and teams keep going and taking on challenges: Elise Neel
Leading strategies and innovations at Panasonic Well
Elise Neel
Panasonic Well LLCGlobal Head of Strategy & Innovation
After serving as an executive in multiple companies, including her role as CEO of a digital mapping company, Elise Neel as a Senior Vice President of Verizon spearheaded the transformation of one of the largest and most profitable telecommunications company in the world, successfully shifting its focus towards software and service offerings. Under her leadership, her team developed over 130 patents in five years, 80% in the areas of artificial intelligence. Elise is the author of three of the AI-based patents. In October 2023, she joined Panasonic Well and currently supervises a broad range of areas, including portfolio and business strategy, new business development, innovation, ecosystem development, corporate development, marketing, and branding.
Accelerating both internal and external collaboration, essential for innovations
At Panasonic Well, one of the strategies we have focused on is expanding innovations through collaboration within and outside of the Panasonic Group. We have an expat program where many members from Japan come to Panasonic Well in the US for multiple years to accelerate learning and sharing of technologies, strategies, and ideas. Some of those expats were involved in the creation of Umi, a holistic digital family wellness platform and coach unveiled at CES 2025. We also provide opportunities for sharing know-how and cross-learning through Dojo programs.*1 In FY2025, we hope to increase programs like these.＊1: Programs for Panasonic Well employees to visit the Panasonic Group’s global sites and disseminate state-of-the-art technologies from Silicon Valley in the US throughout the Group.
We have also been committed to building a business ecosystem.*2 A recent example is our global partnership with Anthropic, a leading AI safety and research company. We have tenaciously advocated for the adoption of ethical, safe and privacy-friendly AI tooling and platforms, not only for Panasonic Well but also across relevant departments in the Panasonic Group. Our efforts have led to the global strategic partnership with Anthropic announced at CES. Now under Panasonic Go, the strategic growth and transformation initiative announced at CES 2025, the Panasonic Group will endeavor to build a system to enhance the use of AI to drive increased efficiency and new revenue streams leveraging safe, reliable and ethical AI. Partnerships like Anthropic are just one example, of many, that we will have.＊2: A large economic network of various companies and organizations that collaborate to create greater value.
You need not be ashamed of failure. Be ashamed to stop trying
I’m in a position to support our staff in bringing about innovations. As part of my responsibilities, I always keep in mind the need to mitigate their fear of doing something different from others or encountering failure. I try to encourage them by stating, “You need not be ashamed of failures. Be ashamed to stop trying.” In Panasonic Well, there are people who started a company and those companies did not succeed. However, despite their past failures, they remain passionate and now lead our teams. They do not linger on disappointment but launch a counterattack. This is the most respectable attitude, and I hope to continue supporting such people.
As for me, I try to join hands with many positive people. Even when you face a challenge, you can move ahead if everyone else can help others move together. I also make a point of expressing my gratitude to my team. Meanwhile, to keep going, it is important to maintain creativity by activating the brain and relaxing. I encourage my team to have such opportunities. For me, one of the ways is by ‘dancing’. Actually, the people dancing to Steve Aoki’s DJ performance right before the opening keynote at CES were me and my team.
Ensuring a harmonious balance between the introduction of advanced technology and human-centered AI
When I saw visitors and the media express understanding the opportunities we presented at CES, tears filled my eyes, recalling our hard work. However, it was only the beginning of our endeavor. I genuinely believe that Umi will prove quite effective in changing behaviors, including the activities and nutrition of all family members, because we created our service based on a comprehensive understanding of the problems and needs of families. I hope that Umi will expand globally.
Through the opportunity at Panasonic Well, I helped to lead initiatives to further improve the lives of families while using responsible, ethical, and safe AI. Now through Panasonic Go, I look forward to the opportunity to extend this work and apply my experience in business transformation. I believe the onset of AI can help transform Panasonic Group to deliver greater value to our customers and help us work more efficiently as a team, and am excited to support Panasonic Group’s efforts to change people’s lives, communication, business, and society at large through the use of advanced technology and human-centered AI.
The content in this website is accurate at the time of publication but may be subject to change without notice.Please note therefore that these documents may not always contain the most up-to-date information.Please note that German, French and Chinese versions are machine translations, so the quality and accuracy may vary.
Headline: Panasonic Recognized with Top ‘A’ Rating by CDP for Climate Change Leadership for Third Consecutive Year
Osaka, Japan, February 7, 2025 – Panasonic Holdings Corporation (PHD) has been named by CDP*1, an international non-profit organization, as an A-list*2 company for 2024 in recognition of its leadership in disclosure transparency and performance in the area of climate change. This marks the third consecutive year, and the sixth time overall, that PHD has achieved CDP’s highest rating.
CDP is widely recognized as the global standard for corporate environmental reporting, and the ratings published annually by CDP are widely used to drive investment and procurement decisions toward a net zero, sustainable and resilient economy. In 2024, more than 24,800 companies, representing two-thirds of the global market value, reported their environmental data through CDP. Earning an “A” rating from CDP indicates that a company has been evaluated as positioning climate change as a critical management issue and has effectively managed governance, strategy, risk management, metrics, and targets related to climate change as per the guidelines of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)*3, which helps the company to gain the trust of investors and customers and facilitate its business.
PHD received the highest “A” rating in the climate change category again for setting ambitious and meaningful goals to address and resolve climate change issues, for its emissions reduction activities, and for the transparency and comprehensiveness of its information disclosure. Moreover, in 2024, PHD received recognition from the international organization Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)*4 for its “Net-Zero Targets”.
Committed to making sure that my children and grandchildren and yours, and future generations can enjoy a healthy environment, the Panasonic Group will continue to promote efforts to solve global environmental problems and transparent disclosure of environmental information to achieve the mission of realizing “an ideal society with affluence both in matter and mind.”
*1: CDP is an international NGO headquartered in the United Kingdom. It conducts activities to urge companies and local governments to disclose information about their environmental measures.
*2: CDP rates companies using nine grades (A, A-, B, B-, C, C-, D, D-, and F).
*3: Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD): A framework for disclosing financial information on corporate climate change initiatives and impacts. The TCFD was established by the Financial Stability Board, which consists of central banks and other institutions from various countries, in response to a request from the G20.
*4: A collaboration between the CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), with a global team composed of people from these organizations.
China has confirmed details of its meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown for the first time, saying Beijing “stands ready to have an in-depth exchange” with the island nation.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during his regular press conference that Brown’s itinerary, from February 10-16, would include attending the closing ceremony of the Asian Winter Games in Harbin as well as meeting with Premier of the State Council Li Qiang.
Guo also confirmed that Brown and his delegation had visited Shanghai and Shandong as part of the state visit.
“The Cook Islands is China’s cooperation partner in the South Pacific,” he said.
“Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries have respected each other, treated each other as equals, and sought common development.”
Guo told reporters that the relationship between the two countries was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership in 2018.
“Our friendly cooperation is rooted in profound public support and delivers tangibly to the two peoples.
‘New progress in bilateral relations’ “Through Prime Minister Brown’s visit, China stands ready to have an in-depth exchange of views with the Cook Islands on our relations and work for new progress in bilateral relations.”
Locals in Rarotonga have accused New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters of being a “bully”, while others are planning to protest against Brown’s leadership.
A local resident, Tim Buchanan, said Peters has “been a bit bullying”.
He said Peters had overacted and the whole issue had been “majorly” blown out of proportion.
‘It doesn’t involve security’ “It does not involve our national security, it does not involve borrowing a shit load of money, so what is your concern about?
“Why do we need to consult him? We have been a sovereign nation for 60 years, and all of a sudden he’s up in arms and wanted to know everything that we’re doing”
Brown previously told RNZ Pacific that he had assured Wellington “over and over” that there “will be no impact on our relationship and there certainly will be no surprises”.
However, New Zealand said it should have seen the text prior to Brown leaving for China.
Cook Islands opposition MP and leader of the Cook Islands United Party Teariki Heather . . . he has filed a vote filed a vote of no confidence motion against Prime Minister Mark Brown. Image: Caleb Fotheringham/RNZ Pacific
Vote of no confidence Cook Islands opposition MP Teariki Heather said he did not want anything to change with New Zealand.
“The response from the government and Winston Peters and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, that’s really what concerns us, because they are furious,” said Heather, who is the leader of Cook Islands United Party.
Heather has filed a no confidence motion against the Prime Minister and has been the main organiser for a protest against Brown’s leadership that will take place on Monday morning local time.
He is expecting about 1000 people to turn up, about one in every 15 people who reside in the country.
Opposition leader Tina Browne is backing the motion and will be at the protest which is also about the Prime Minister’s push for a local passport, which he has since dropped.
With only eight opposition members in the 24-seat parliament, Browne said the motion of no confidence is not about the numbers.
“It is about what are we the politicians, the members of Parliament, going to do about the two issues and for us, the best way to demonstrate our disapproval is to vote against it in Parliament, whether the members of Parliament join us or not that’s entirely up to them.”
The 2001 document argument Browne said that after reading the constitution and the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration, she agreed with Peters that the Cook Islands should have first consulted New Zealand on the China deal.
“Our prime minister has stated that the agreement does not affect anything that he is obligated to consult with New Zealand. I’m very suspicious of that because if there is nothing offensive, why the secrecy then?
“I would have thought, irrespective, putting aside everything, that our 60 year relationship with New Zealand, who’s been our main partner warrants us to keep that line open for consultation and that’s even if it wasn’t in [the Joint Centenary Declaration].”
Other locals have been concerned by the lack of transparency from their government to the Cook Islands people.
But Cook Islands’ Foreign Minister Tingika Elikana said that is not how these deals were done.
“I think the people have to understand that in regards to agreements of this nature, there’s a lot of negotiations until the final day when it is signed and the Prime Minister is very open that the agreements will be made available publicly and then people can look at it.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government would wait to see what was in the agreement before deciding if any punishment should be imposed.
With the waiting, Elikana said he was concerned.
“We are worried but we want to see what will be their response and we’ve always reiterated that our relationship is important to us and our citizenship is really important to us, and we will try our best to remain and retain that,” Elikana said.
He did not speculate about the vote of no confidence motion.
“I think we just leave it to the day but I’m very confident in our team and very confident in our Prime Minister.”
‘Cook Islands does a lot for New Zealand’ Cultural leader and carver Mike Tavioni said he did not know why everyone was so afraid of the Asian superpower.
“I do not know why there is an issue with the Cook Islands and New Zealand, as long as Mark [Brown] does not commit this country to a deal with China with strings attached to it,” he said.
Tavioni said the Cook Islands does a lot for New Zealand also, with about 80,000 Cook Islanders living in New Zealand and contributing to it’s economy.
“The thing about consulting, asking for permission, it does not go down well because our relationship with Aotearoa should be taken into consideration.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Headline: Securing DeepSeek and other AI systems with Microsoft Security
A successful AI transformation starts with a strong security foundation. With a rapid increase in AI development and adoption, organizations need visibility into their emerging AI apps and tools. Microsoft Security provides threat protection, posture management, data security, compliance, and governance to secure AI applications that you build and use. These capabilities can also be used to help enterprises secure and govern AI apps built with the DeepSeek R1 model and gain visibility and control over the use of the seperate DeepSeek consumer app.
Secure and govern AI apps built with the DeepSeek R1 model on Azure AI Foundry and GitHub
Develop with trustworthy AI
Last week, we announced DeepSeek R1’s availability on Azure AI Foundry and GitHub, joining a diverse portfolio of more than 1,800 models.
Customers today are building production-ready AI applications with Azure AI Foundry, while accounting for their varying security, safety, and privacy requirements. Similar to other models provided in Azure AI Foundry, DeepSeek R1 has undergone rigorous red teaming and safety evaluations, including automated assessments of model behavior and extensive security reviews to mitigate potential risks. Microsoft’s hosting safeguards for AI models are designed to keep customer data within Azure’s secure boundaries.
With Azure AI Content Safety, built-in content filtering is available by default to help detect and block malicious, harmful, or ungrounded content, with opt-out options for flexibility. Additionally, the safety evaluation system allows customers to efficiently test their applications before deployment. These safeguards help Azure AI Foundry provide a secure, compliant, and responsible environment for enterprises to confidently build and deploy AI solutions. See Azure AI Foundry and GitHub for more details.
Build transformative AI apps with Azure AI Foundry
Start with Security Posture Management
AI workloads introduce new cyberattack surfaces and vulnerabilities, especially when developers leverage open-source resources. Therefore, it’s critical to start with security posture management, to discover all AI inventories, such as models, orchestrators, grounding data sources, and the direct and indirect risks around these components. When developers build AI workloads with DeepSeek R1 or other AI models, Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s AI security posture management capabilities can help security teams gain visibility into AI workloads, discover AI cyberattack surfaces and vulnerabilities, detect cyberattack paths that can be exploited by bad actors, and get recommendations to proactively strengthen their security posture against cyberthreats.
Figure 1. AI security posture management in Defender for Cloud detects an attack path to a DeepSeek R1 workload.
By mapping out AI workloads and synthesizing security insights such as identity risks, sensitive data, and internet exposure, Defender for Cloud continuously surfaces contextualized security issues and suggests risk-based security recommendations tailored to prioritize critical gaps across your AI workloads. Relevant security recommendations also appear within the Azure AI resource itself in the Azure portal. This provides developers or workload owners with direct access to recommendations and helps them remediate cyberthreats faster.
Safeguard DeepSeek R1 AI workloads with cyberthreat protection
While having a strong security posture reduces the risk of cyberattacks, the complex and dynamic nature of AI requires active monitoring in runtime as well. No AI model is exempt from malicious activity and can be vulnerable to prompt injection cyberattacks and other cyberthreats. Monitoring the latest models is critical to ensuring your AI applications are protected.
Integrated with Azure AI Foundry, Defender for Cloud continuously monitors your DeepSeek AI applications for unusual and harmful activity, correlates findings, and enriches security alerts with supporting evidence. This provides your security operations center (SOC) analysts with alerts on active cyberthreats such as jailbreak cyberattacks, credential theft, and sensitive data leaks. For example, when a prompt injection cyberattack occurs, Azure AI Content Safety prompt shields can block it in real-time. The alert is then sent to Microsoft Defender for Cloud, where the incident is enriched with Microsoft Threat Intelligence, helping SOC analysts understand user behaviors with visibility into supporting evidence, such as IP address, model deployment details, and suspicious user prompts that triggered the alert.
Figure 2. Microsoft Defender for Cloud integrates with Azure AI to detect and respond to prompt injection cyberattacks.
Additionally, these alerts integrate with Microsoft Defender XDR, allowing security teams to centralize AI workload alerts into correlated incidents to understand the full scope of a cyberattack, including malicious activities related to their generative AI applications.
Figure 3. A security alert for a prompt injection attack is flagged in Defender for Cloud
Secure and govern the use of the DeepSeek app
In addition to the DeepSeek R1 model, DeepSeek also provides a consumer app hosted on its local servers, where data collection and cybersecurity practices may not align with your organizational requirements, as is often the case with consumer-focused apps. This underscores the risks organizations face if employees and partners introduce unsanctioned AI apps leading to potential data leaks and policy violations. Microsoft Security provides capabilities to discover the use of third-party AI applications in your organization and provides controls for protecting and governing their use.
Secure and gain visibility into DeepSeek app usage
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps provides ready-to-use risk assessments for more than 850 Generative AI apps, and the list of apps is updated continuously as new ones become popular. This means that you can discover the use of these Generative AI apps in your organization, including the DeepSeek app, assess their security, compliance, and legal risks, and set up controls accordingly. For example, for high-risk AI apps, security teams can tag them as unsanctioned apps and block user’s access to the apps outright.
Figure 4. Discover usage and control access to Generative AI applications based on their risk factors in Defender for Cloud Apps.
Comprehensive data security
In addition, Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI provides visibility into data security and compliance risks, such as sensitive data in user prompts and non-compliant usage, and recommends controls to mitigate the risks. For example, the reports in DSPM for AI can offer insights on the type of sensitive data being pasted to Generative AI consumer apps, including the DeepSeek consumer app, so data security teams can create and fine-tune their data security policies to protect that data and prevent data leaks.
Figure 5. Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI enables security teams to gain visibility into data risks and get recommended actions to address them.
Prevent sensitive data leaks and exfiltration
The leakage of organizational data is among the top concerns for security leaders regarding AI usage, highlighting the importance for organizations to implement controls that prevent users from sharing sensitive information with external third-party AI applications.
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) enables you to prevent users from pasting sensitive data or uploading files containing sensitive content into Generative AI apps from supported browsers. Your DLP policy can also adapt to insider risk levels, applying stronger restrictions to users that are categorized as ‘elevated risk’ and less stringent restrictions for those categorized as ‘low-risk’. For example, elevated-risk users are restricted from pasting sensitive data into AI applications, while low-risk users can continue their productivity uninterrupted. By leveraging these capabilities, you can safeguard your sensitive data from potential risks from using external third-party AI applications. Security admins can then investigate these data security risks and perform insider risk investigations within Purview. These same data security risks are surfaced in Defender XDR for holistic investigations.
Figure 6. Data Loss Prevention policy can block sensitive data from being pasted to third-party AI applications in supported browsers.
This is a quick overview of some of the capabilities to help you secure and govern AI apps that you build on Azure AI Foundry and GitHub, as well as AI apps that users in your organization use. We hope you find this useful!
To learn more and to get started with securing your AI apps, take a look at the additional resources below:
Learn more with Microsoft Security
To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
Headline: New device protection plan from Total Wireless ensures peace of mind
NEW YORK – Total Wireless, a fast-growing, no-contract wireless provider powered by the Verizon 5G network, announced today the launch of Total Wireless Protect for new and existing customers. The brand’s new device protection plan provided by Assurant gives customers the ability to protect their device for only $5 per month per device, with benefits including:
Hassle-free service: 24/7 online claim filing, and next-business-day delivery (when available), at no extra cost.
Post-warranty coverage: Unlimited mechanical breakdown claims, even after your device manufacturer’s warranty expires.
Front screen & back glass repairs: For only $29 each (plus applicable taxes). Up to two per 12 rolling months at an Assurant-authorized repair center*.
Speedy device replacement: Up to two per rolling 12 months for all other accidental damage claims. Service fee will apply based on device tier**.
Total Wireless Protect ensures customers are covered by providing an affordable replacement or repair for eligible devices against accidents such as drops, mechanical breakdowns or malfunctions after the manufacturer’s warranty expires, offering customers a greater confidence when purchasing their devices.
“Total Wireless stands out among no-contract carriers by offering an affordable device protection program to all customers with eligible devices,” said David Kim, Chief Revenue Officer of Verizon Value organization. “This plan provides peace of mind to our customers and ensures that they can stay connected without worrying about unexpected repair costs. Our goal is to deliver exceptional value and convenience, making it easier for everyone to enjoy the benefits of a protected device.”
Customers can also access fast repair and replacement of their devices when they need it most, with next-business-day delivery at no additional cost. Assurant’s seamless, hassle-free claim filing process and convenient 24/7 online claim filing is available at fastclaim.com/totalwireless.
”From the moment of purchase, Assurant helps customers get the most from their devices. With rapid replacement, access to more than 900 Assurant Authorized Repair Centers nationwide, and most repairs taking less than one-hour, Total Wireless customers are assured they can stay connected,” said Jeff Unterreiner, president of U.S. Connected Living, Assurant. “Working in close collaboration with our partners at Total Wireless, we’ve developed a plan that offers the protection they need at the best value.”
Total Wireless features a broad lineup of devices, generous benefits and no-contract service plans for both single line accounts and families that are all powered by Verizon’s award-winning networks. Total Wireless Protect is now available both at Total Wireless stores and online. For more information, visit a Total Wireless store near you or totalwireless.com.
About Total Wireless
Total Wireless is a fast-growing, no-contract wireless provider covered by the Verizon 5G network, with over 1,000 exclusive stores across the country, and counting. On a mission to raise the bar in prepaid wireless, Total Wireless disrupts the status quo by offering more value than any other no-contract provider. Total Wireless offers plans with unlimited data and access to Verizon’s 5G Ultra-Wideband network, prices guaranteed for five years (taxes and fees included), select free 5G phones with qualifying purchase plans, and more.
Total Wireless is part of the Verizon Value portfolio of prepaid brands, which includes Straight Talk, Visible, Tracfone, Simple Mobile, SafeLink, Walmart Family Mobile, and Verizon Prepaid. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) is one of the world’s leading providers of technology, communications, information and entertainment products and services.
For more information on Total Wireless, visit one of its exclusive storefronts across the country, or check out Totalwireless.com.
About Assurant
* Limited to certain smartphone models. See fastclaim.com/totalwireless for additional details. A $29 service fee applies per repair. This applies when and where repair service is available. Otherwise, a replacement is available under Accidental Damage (All Other) for a $29 to $349 service fee depending on your device tier. This service contract renews month to month until canceled by you or us.
** Device replacement will be a new or refurbished product of like kind and quality
The Service Contract Provider is Federal Warranty Service Corporation in all states except in California, where the Provider is Sureway, Inc.; in Florida, where the Provider is United Service Protection, Inc.; and in Oklahoma, where the Provider is Assurant Service Protection, Inc. The address and phone number of each Provider is P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689, 1-833-456-0146.
I am delighted to be here with you today. What better place than Glasgow to discuss the economic impacts of climate change and the green transition! And not just because it played host to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Glasgow is also where Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, studied and taught as a professor. Have you ever wondered what he would have thought of climate change? As a famed free-market economist, he might not be the first person you would think of. But even Adam Smith acknowledged that the invisible hand can sometimes lead to suboptimal outcomes.
Climate change is a prime example of this: market prices do not reflect the negative side effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, it is now widely acknowledged that governments need to intervene and encourage individuals and companies to reduce their emissions.
Switching to a net-zero emissions economy is a major task. It requires changes in behaviour, innovation and significant investment to rebuild our capital stock. And this transition requires significant financing.
In my speech, I will explore what financing the transition to a greenhouse gas-neutral economy could look like. More specifically, I will focus on two key issues. First, how much investment is needed to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality, and how much of this investment is “additional”? Second, what could the financing mix to fund this investment look like?
I know that answering these questions seems like a tough challenge – a taughy fleece tae scoor. But I will do my best to illustrate my points with clear, practical examples. Along the way, I will discuss electric cars and heating systems to help us understand the issues.
My remarks will focus on the European Union (EU), borrowing some detailed insights from Germany. Unfortunately, these data do not cover the United Kingdom (UK). But I will do my best to infer some insights for the UK as well.
2 How much needs to be invested?
Let me start with the question of how much the EU needs to invest to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality. The EU’s Fit for 55 package aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030. These reductions are benchmarked against 1990 emission levels. This is an intermediate step towards full greenhouse gas neutrality, for which the EU still needs to pass legislation.
From 2021 to 2030, the European Commission estimates that EU countries need to invest over €1.2 trillion annually.[1] This amounts to nearly 8 per cent of the EU’s GDP. The private sector must take on the bulk of these investments. The investment needs are significantly more than the actual annual investment of €760 billion in the previous decade.
The European Commission defines the difference between the investment required and the actual investment as the “additional” investment need. This additional investment need amounts to €480 billion, or around 3 per cent of GDP.
This definition of “additional” investment is very useful from an accounting perspective. It gives a clear picture of how much more the EU needs to invest to meet its climate goals. However, from a financing perspective, it helps to define additional investment differently.
There are two types of investment needed to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality. The first type is investment that would not happen without the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A prime example of this type of investment is technology to capture and store carbon dioxide. This technology will play a crucial role in sectors that are difficult to decarbonise. These investments need economic resources and financing beyond what an economy spends just to maintain its capital stock.
The second type is investment where a greenhouse gas-neutral alternative replaces a fossil fuel-based technology. To illustrate this point, imagine two households buying a new car. The Jones family spend €45,000 on a new combustion engine car. From a technical perspective, the Jones family are making a replacement investment. No additional financing is needed. Meanwhile, the Smith family decide to switch from a combustion engine car to an electric vehicle. Let us say a comparable electric car costs €50,000. Of this amount, €45,000 is a replacement investment. Only the remaining €5,000 requires additional financing.
Contrast this with how the European Commission defines additional investment: They subtract the annual average value of electric cars bought in the past from the value of electric vehicles needed to meet the EU’s intermediate greenhouse gas reduction goals. Past registrations of electric vehicles fell significantly short of what is needed. Accordingly, the additional investments, as defined by the European Commission’s accounting perspective, are presumably much higher than the additional financing needs.
How great could the additional financing needs be? While we do not yet have specific figures for the EU, there are some numbers for Germany. A recent study estimates that Germany needs to invest around €390 billion annually from 2021 to 2030 to reduce emissions by 65 per cent compared to 1990.[2] They measure this absolute sum in 2020 prices. Relative to GDP, the investment amounts to 11 per cent.
This is fairly close to the 8 per cent investment needs calculated by the European Commission for the EU.[3] However, only around 30 per cent of this investment requires additional financing. In absolute terms, this amounts to about €120 billion.
Let me pause for a moment to summarise the two key takeaways from my remarks so far. First, the transition to greenhouse gas neutrality calls for significant investment. However, in many cases, we are replacing fossil-based technologies with greenhouse gas-neutral alternatives. Accordingly, the additional financing needs are much smaller and seem manageable.
Second, we can minimise the additional financing needs by replacing already largely depreciated capital stock. By contrast, replacing relatively new capital stock that has barely depreciated would increase the economic and financial costs. Let me illustrate this point with a brief anecdote.
On 1 January 2024, the German government introduced a new law governing heating systems. In German, it is known by the beautiful name “Gebäudeenergiegesetz”. This law mandates that heating systems use around two-thirds renewable energy. In anticipation of this new law, many households replaced their old gas heating systems with new ones. These heating systems can run for around 25 years, so they depreciate over a long period.
Bad luck if you just installed a new gas heating system and live in the German city of Mannheim. Here, the local gas provider has said it intends to stop its services in 2035. This means that a long-term investment will become unviable when little more than half of it has depreciated: A waste of both financial and economic resources.
This anecdote highlights one key point: to avoid wasting money, we need a clear and reliable path to greenhouse gas neutrality. With a clear path mapped out, people can confidently invest in the transition.
3 What could the financing mix look like?
Now, let us explore what the potential financing mix could look like. To achieve a greenhouse gas-neutral economy, households, firms and the public sector all need to invest. They can fund these investments using both internal and external sources.
As the name would suggest, internal financing comes from within. Like the Smith family putting aside some of their income to pay for their new car. Or think of a firm that sells its products and saves some of the profits. That is internal financing, too. External financing, on the other hand, comes from outside sources such as banks or investors.
Regarding their financing mix, households, non-financial firms and the public sector differ considerably. Households tend to save significantly and mainly use bank loans as a source of external finance. The public sector, on the other hand, raises most of its funds from external sources by issuing debt securities. Only firms have a more diversified financing mix. Equity and bank loans play prominent roles here. Note that these observations hold for the EU, the UK and Germany alike.
So, what might the financing mix for the transition to a greenhouse gas-neutral economy look like? To estimate these figures, we need two key components: First, the respective shares of households, firms and the public sector in total investment. According to rough estimates by Bundesbank staff for Germany, households might have to cover about one-third of the investment, the public sector around 20 per cent, and firms just under half.[4]
Second, estimates for the future financing structure of the sectors. We assume that future financing structures will remain unchanged from today.[5] This implies that past financing structures are suitable for future climate investment. If this were not the case, perhaps due to the need for innovative financing instruments, the financing structure may differ.
What result do we get when we combine the two components? For Germany, we estimate that about 20 per cent of the financing mix could come from internal financing, primarily household savings. In terms of external financing, bank loans might play the largest role. They account for over one-quarter of the estimated financing mix. Households in particular obtain almost all their external financing from banks.
The second-largest external financing source could be debt securities, accounting for around 20 per cent. The public sector plays a prominent role here, with funding coming almost exclusively from bonds. Finally, the third-largest external financing source could be equity financing, comprising around one-sixth. Firms are the only users of this financing source, as households and the public sector do not issue equity. Different instruments, like loans from non-bank financial intermediaries, might cover the final sixth of the overall investment needs.
So, what does this mean for the EU and the UK? Can the findings for Germany be generalised? Fortunately, the financing structures of households, firms and governments are largely comparable across these regions.[6] Therefore, one of the two components in the calculations is roughly equal.
The second component – the sectoral investment needs – is less certain. I am not aware of any studies for the EU or the UK that divide the investment needs across households, firms and the public sector.[7] Without a better alternative, the findings for Germany may provide a reasonable initial estimate for both the EU and the UK.
4 Concluding remarks
Let me summarise and conclude. I have three main takeaways to share.
First, “additional” investment needs to become greenhouse gas-neutral can also be defined from a financing perspective. In many cases, we are replacing fossil fuel-based technologies with greenhouse gas-neutral alternatives. And this requires additional financing only if greenhouse gas-neutral technologies are more expensive or if the capital stock being replaced is not yet fully depreciated. The additional financing needs are significantly smaller than the total investment required. Accordingly, I am confident that our financial system can mobilise the necessary financing.
Second, banks may play a larger role in financing the climate transition than is commonly anticipated. The main reason for this conclusion is that a substantial portion of climate investments falls on households. They need to make their homes more energy-efficient and replace fossil-fuelled heating systems with greenhouse gas-neutral alternatives. And households simply do not have many viable alternatives to bank loans.
Accordingly, a robust banking system is essential for achieving greenhouse gas neutrality. That is why we at the Bundesbank are committed to completing the European banking union. However, we also need to improve access to alternative financing sources. Non-financial firms, in particular, would greatly benefit from better capital market financing. That is why we at the Bundesbank are dedicated to creating a European capital markets union.
Third, legislators can minimise the additional financing needs by ensuring that the path to greenhouse gas neutrality is planned stringently and for the long term. Why? Because it provides incentives to avoid investments in fossil fuel technologies that may not be fully depreciated before they become non-viable.
Footnotes:
See European Commission (2023), Investment needs assessment and funding availabilities to strengthen EU’s Net-Zero technology manufacturing capacity, SWD (2023) 68 final.
Kemmler et al. (2024), Klimaschutzinvestitionen für die Transformation des Energiesystems, Prognos. This study is only available in German.
One reason why Germany’s investment needs relative to GDP are higher than the EU’s is that Germany intends to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality sooner (in 2045 rather than 2050).
The estimates are based on the public sector shares provided in Brand and Römer (2022), Öffentliche Investitionsbedarfe zur Erreichung der Klimaneutralität in Deutschland, KfW Research – Fokus Volkswirtschaft, Nr. 395 and various plausibility assumptions. The analysis assumes that the public sector’s involvement in industry and the residential investment sector is minimal or non-existent. This is because the analysis looks at financing flows before any government support, such as subsidies.
More precisely, the financing structure is derived from the average internal and external financing flows over the period 2018 to 2022. This averaging smooths out short-term fluctuations and centres on the reference year of 2020 used in the Kemmler et al (2024) study. Internal financing enters the calculation on a net basis, assuming that the depreciation inflows finance the replacement investments.
In the EU and UK, households rely slightly less on bank loans than in Germany, but the share is still high. In the public sector, Germany has a significantly higher share of debt security financing, particularly compared to the EU. In the UK, non-financial firms have a significantly lower share of equity financing and a higher share of (bank) loans compared to Germany. In contrast, in the EU, non-financial firms have a slightly higher share of equity financing and a smaller share of (bank) loans compared to Germany. All figures are based on average financial flows from 2018 to 2022.
European Commission, op. cit., estimates that, in the EU, the public sector could account for 17 to 20 per cent of total investment. However, it does not clarify how this investment will be split between households and firms. For the UK, HM Government (2023), Mobilising Green Investment – 2023 Green Finance Strategy, mentions that most investment must come from the private sector. However, it likewise does not provide any details on how this investment will be split between households and firms.
Headline: Enhancing supply chain efficiency with agentic systems
The supply chain challenge continues
Retailers and consumer goods companies have faced constant change, particularly in supply chains. New sales and distribution models, such as online sales, omnichannel approaches, direct-to-consumer sales, and complex ecosystems, have evolved. External disruptions are frequent, with 90% of leaders reporting supply chain challenges in 20241.
Supply chain agility and resiliency rely on fast and accurate decision making. Poor decisions or slow responses lead to missed promises, negatively impacting revenue and customer satisfaction, and increasing costs due to inefficient shipments and higher inventory levels.
To address these challenges, there is an urgent need to improve both the quality and speed of decision making in supply chain management.
Microsoft Cloud for Retail
Connect your customers, your people, and your data.
Enter agents and agentic systems
Agentic systems offer a revolutionary opportunity to enhance decision making quality and speed. Triggered by business events, agents collect and analyze relevant data to either act directly or recommend actions.
Microsoft announced the ability to build autonomous agents using Microsoft Copilot Studio during Microsoft Ignite in October 2024. In a supply chain context, this capability could, for example, allow for the identification and action upon alternative supply sources in the event of a delayed shipment, with minimal human intervention.
Overview of agentic systems
In the context of agentic systems, an agent refers to a system capable of autonomous decision making and action. These systems can pursue goals independently without direct human intervention. Agentic systems have the following characteristics:
Autonomy. They operate independently, making decisions and executing tasks without human oversight, escalating to a human when necessary.
Context aware. They interpret data and adjust actions accordingly.
Goal orientation. They can aim to achieve specific objectives.
Learning. They enhance their performance by using new data and past outcomes.
Reasoning and decision making. Agents use reasoning to process information, infer relationships, and make decisions.
Perception and sensing. Agents perceive their environment through sensors or other means, which allows them to be triggered by changes in the process.
Skills and capabilities. Agents possess specific skills or capabilities to perform tasks. These skills can be learned or programmed.
Memory. An agent’s memory stores relevant information for decision making and future actions.
Agents can be programmed to pursue specific objectives once activated. For instance, when searching for an alternative supply source, they can prioritize cost minimization rather than selecting the first available option.
Agents are already delivering value for customers—for example, one customer has autonomous agents reviewing shipping invoices with more use cases planned. Over time, agents can be developed for various tasks across the organization, with Microsoft Copilot serving as the ‘UI for AI’.
Have we heard this before?
This may sound like RPA (Robotic Process Automation). You might also question how an agent differs from a copilot.
RPA employs rules-based automation, while agents enhance this capability by reasoning over data and using large language models (LLMs) to extract relevant information from extensive datasets. Whereas an RPA-based solution is rigid in terms of the scenarios that it can address and requires programming to make changes, an agent-based process automation solution can learn and improve over time, resulting in more effective outcomes.
Agents operate autonomously, unlike copilots who assist users in real-time. An agent can work within Copilot, aligning with the Microsoft vision of Copilot as the UI for AI. In the future, users will have one copilot but multiple agents including many working autonomously behind the scenes.
How agents can operate in the retail and consumer goods (RCG) supply chain
Agents can be widely applied across the RCG supply chain to automate repetitive tasks, analyze vast amounts of data for insights, and improve supply chain management. An ideal use case involves tasks that are human-intensive, repetitive, and require real-time decision making, where AI can significantly boost efficiency and accuracy. The criteria for an ideal use case includes high data availability, clearly defined achievable outcomes, and the potential for measurable improvements in revenue and cost savings.
AI agents can play a crucial role in retail store performance and inventory management practices. An agent can autonomously monitor performance data to alert the store manager when store performance metrics fall below a defined threshold. By comparing performance across similar stores, the agent can identify areas for improvement and recommend actions to improve store performance.
Agents can help to avoid stockout and overstock situations at retail locations. By analyzing data from various sources (such as sales, inventory, promotions, and external events), an agent can identify when a sales spike is misaligned with the forecast, leading to a potential shortage, and alert the supply chain team. The agent recommends a replenishment order which it can automatically generate to help ensure optimal stock levels, lower carrying costs, and reduce the likelihood of stockouts or surplus inventory.
Mitigating challenges with agentic AI
Disruptions across the supply chain often lead to product shortages and low case fill rate (CFR), leading to the complex daily task of allocating inventory across your customers. An agent can analyze customer orders, current inventory levels, and product substitution options to identify potential CFR situations. The agent allocates inventory by prioritizing orders based on predefined criteria such as customer loyalty, customer segmentation, order value, SLA fines, and urgency.
One of the biggest challenges facing RCG companies in 2025 is assessing the impact of tariffs. AI agents can evaluate and recommend alternative suppliers from different regions to mitigate the risk of high tariffs. This diversification strategy helps in maintaining a steady supply of materials while minimizing costs. By continuously monitoring tariff regulations and market conditions, an AI agent can suggest cost-saving measures such as bulk purchasing before tariff hikes or shifting production to countries with lower tariffs. An agent can assist in negotiating better terms with suppliers by analyzing market conditions and historical pricing data. This helps to ensure that companies get the best possible deals despite tariff fluctuations.
What’s next?
Consider the significant amount of time and effort that it takes today to answer the question: “How can I optimize my supply chain to boost sales by 10%?”.
Although this might feel like a supply chain question, it involves finance, sales, marketing, and possibly manufacturing. It’s such a complex question that answering it is likely to need days or weeks of analysis.
Today, agents integrated into Copilot enable users to ask specific questions in defined areas. This capability will expand in scope and complexity over time, eventually leading to a comprehensive redesign of business applications.
Project Sophia envisions agents, copilot, and business applications converging into an infinite research canvas.
Designed with an AI first approach, Project Sophia lets you ask business questions by analyzing data from various disparate systems and inputs. The AI guides you to view different perspectives, helping you understand and act on insights holistically.
Project Sophia reimagines the user experience, supporting each job function to address questions from their perspective while integrating strategic and tactical approaches.
Getting started with agentic systems
Increasing AI’s potential to scale value chain optimization in retail, consumer goods
Agentic AI lends itself well to navigating the complexity of routes to market—integrating manufacturing and sales strategies, selling through multiple channels or direct to consumer, managing multiple product lines and businesses, and integrating marketing and sales efforts globally.
Agentic AI is an integral tool that gives LLMs agency, with the ability to act autonomously. Whereas LLMs have previously been used to perform tasks including generating text and summarizing documents, they have not been able to act on their recommendations. Agentic AI on the other hand, is designed to drive goal-based optimizations and can dynamically adapt and execute goals with high predictability and minimal human oversight. Together, advancements in generative AI and agentic AI will redefine strategic value and productivity derived from technology, incorporating more advanced decision making processes with greater accuracy and speed.
Identify business problems and scenarios for more strategic engagement
As you consider how to use AI agents in a strategic manner, it is vital to frame applications of agentic AI in the larger context of identifying line of business processes that lend themselves to automation: optimizing time-consuming and mundane tasks/scenarios; establishing user trust in the agent’s capabilities and establishing clear operational guardrails for agentic AI including data governance, privacy, security; and instilling confidence in the agent’s value delivery, extending collaborative work management beyond task tracking to planning and execution functions.
The integration of agentic AI and generative AI into business applications signifies a monumental shift in how organizations can approach problem solving, strategic planning, and operational efficiency. By using advanced AI capabilities, businesses can anticipate a future where decision making is not only faster and more accurate, but also more insightful and holistic. This convergence of technology paves the way for innovative solutions and unprecedented levels of productivity, firmly with AI at the core of tomorrow’s business landscape.
Business Strategy Leader, Supply Chain & Operations, Worldwide Retail and Consumer Goods and Gaming, Microsoft
Felice leads Supply Chain and Sustainability Strategy for Microsoft’s Worldwide Retail and Consumer Goods Industry Group collaborating with customers and partners to reimagine data and AI solutions, and leveraging technology to drive innovation and better business outcomes. She has extensive experience in consumer products, retail, and global manufacturing. Felice has been an angel investor in early-stage startups, the founder of Delvv, a machine learning studio that created AI-driven interface technology to enhance the smartphone user experience and is an advocate for consumer-centric technology in the mobile space.
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Oliver Guy
Global Industry Architect, Microsoft Retail & Consumer Goods, Microsoft
Oliver Guy, Global Industry Architect, specializes in helping business leaders innovate and compete more flexibility and efficiently. For more than 25 years he has delivered value for retail and consumer goods companies across the globe with technology led change. Oliver is a recognized Retail Technology Influencer by Retail Technology Innovation Hub (RTIH) and is also a RetailWire BrainTrust panelist.
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Paul Manikas
Principal Industry Architect, Industry Solutions Delivery, Microsoft
As a Manufacturing industry architect, Paul works with senior business and IT leaders to help them understand how to apply Microsoft’s technologies and partner solutions to digitally transform their company. Leveraging over 35 years of manufacturing industry experience, Paul works with clients to build their transformations strategy, considering four key pillars of digital transformation: customer experience, operational excellence, workforce transformation and product-as-a-service.
Headline: AI at Work: Let’s talk about AI pricing strategies
When your company is investing in AI, it can be hard to gauge ROI. What use cases will generate the most value? How will you measure ROI? With these big questions looming, it’s understandable that leaders might feel uncertain about answering one of the most basic questions: how much should I spend?
Adding to the complexity is the fact that we’re operating in a fast-changing AI market, as innovations constantly disrupt the status quo and models become commoditized. Last month it was DeepSeek—what will tomorrow bring? In the midst of so much volatility, it’s natural to wonder how this will affect the AI market in general, and prices specifically.
But here’s the thing: No matter how uncertain and fast-moving the environment is, you still need to drive value from your AI investment. So don’t get distracted by factors you can’t control.
At Microsoft, the core of my job is helping customers get the most value out of their AI investments. As part of that effort, we’ve been evolving our approach to pricing AI. We believe the best way to optimize your organization’s AI investment is to focus on three key elements:
Here’s the thinking behind our approach and how it plays out in our pricing model.
The Price That’s Right Microsoft recently released a new offering called Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. It’s the simplest way to illustrate what I’m talking about because it’s the simplest price: free. Copilot Chat is AI chat for our Microsoft 365 commercial customers, available at no charge. It’s powered by GPT-4o, one of the most sophisticated mainstream models available.
I bring this up not to pitch you our product, but to show how it addresses those key elements that every organization needs to consider when investing in AI.
Flexibility: A free offering offers a low-stakes way for everyone in an organization to learn how one of the most foundational AI use cases—chat—can help them become more productive in their day-to-day work. Organizations can then see how those collective productivity gains start to generate ROI.
Cost efficiency: This one may seem a little obvious, but it’s worth noting that what you’re getting for free is an on-ramp to discovering the value of AI at scale. You’re not getting access to maximum-strength AI—that would be our flagship Microsoft 365 Copilot offering—but it’s enough to start identifying where potential value lies.
At the next level of AI capability are agents, and here we took a page from the cloud-services pricing playbook. Along with the free Copilot Chat, we’re also offering metered access to AI agents—you pay as you go based on the volume and complexity of tasks the agent carries out. We’re aiming to lower the barrier to entry for one of AI’s most exciting uses by once again addressing those three core needs.
Flexibility: With pay as you go, you’re not making a big financial commitment before you know how valuable agents will be for transforming your organization’s business processes. Employees have a low-risk way to experiment with agents and learn what they’re capable of.
The third leg of the AI-pricing stool is probably the most familiar: subscriptions. You pay a fixed fee for unlimited access to AI. It’s simple and straightforward. This is how we price Microsoft 365 Copilot. Once again, it’s an approach that addresses the three core needs of organizations investing in AI—in this case, most likely the ones furthest along the AI adoption curve.
Cost efficiency: Pay-as-you-go agents make sense up to a point, and that point is where you’re spending more on metered use than you would for a subscription. It’s easy to see when you’re hitting that tipping point, and it’s easy to switch to a flat-fee subscription.
Finding Your Mix How your organization invests in AI probably depends on how far along you are on the AI adoption curve, but for many companies it will involve a mix of these three approaches.
Whenever a technology is new, some companies want pay-as-you-go pricing. They’re excited to get moving quickly but don’t want a big commitment or a lot of risk. Typically, once they start using it and seeing the value, they come back and say, “Actually, I don’t want consumption-based pricing any longer. Will you give me a flat rate instead?” I expect the same thing will happen with AI.
There’s another approach that’s starting to get some attention. Outcome-based pricing ties the cost of AI services directly to specific results—the fee could be based on, say, the number of resolved conversations in customer support. This approach builds ROI right into the payment structure. But for it to work, both the provider and customer need to be perfectly aligned on what constitutes results. As these issues get smoothed out, we expect this model to work for some applications.
Summing It Up There’s a lot going on right now with AI (and the world in general). Don’t let that paralyze you.
The big picture is that AI is essential to your company’s future, whatever industry you’re in. Every employee will have an AI assistant, and every business process will be transformed by agents. Right now, it’s essential for your employees to explore and innovate with AI. By staying focused on flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency, you’ll put your organization in the best position to most effectively invest in AI. It will help you tune out the noise and concentrate on your path to maximizing the value of AI, regardless of the news cycle.
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Experience love like never before this Valentine’s Day, with the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Series. From memorable moments captured with breathtaking clarity to seamless connections that can bring hearts closer, the Galaxy S25 isn’t just a phone – it’s the AI companion that helps you express love, plan perfect dates, and turn every ordinary moment into an extraordinary moment. Whether you’re planning a surprise for your significant other or reminiscing about cherished memories, the Galaxy S25 is here to make it all happen with ease.
New Ways to Find Romantic Spots and Gifts
The Galaxy S25 is the love whisperer you never knew you needed. Powered by advanced AI, it’s not just smart – it’s intuitive, anticipating your needs to make sure you never forget important dates with your partner. Thanks to the ability to take seamless actions across apps. For instance, you can search for a romantic restaurant within a 10km radius of your location, that serves French cuisine, then add it into your diary and text or email an invitation to your partner.
Capture Love’s Most Beautiful Moments – Even in low light
Capturing love’s beautiful moments shouldn’t be ruined by imperfect lighting anymore. Capture your romantic evenings in stunning clarity with Nightography on the Galaxy S25 – whether it’s a candlelit dinner or a moonlit walk – even in low light. After capturing your video, edit using the improved Audio Eraser that lets you remove unwanted noise with great precision. Your love story deserves to shine any time of day, and the Galaxy S25 ensures every memory is captured in its most dazzling form.
Never Forget a Special Date Again
Spontaneous ideas deserve to be turned into cherished memories. Thanks to Search to Calendar, the Galaxy S25 effortlessly transforms those “We should do this!” moments into well-organised plans. Found the perfect spot for a getaway or remembered an anniversary you can’t miss? Simply search, and your phone adds it to your calendar – keeping love organised and ready to bloom.
With Now Brief and Now Bar, your AI companion will keep you informed about hallmark days and personal anniversaries, and it could even help you plan the perfect surprise. Planning Valentine’s Day? Let the Galaxy S25 help you stay on top of important reminders and manage your calendar. Conversations flow effortlessly, leaving more room for what truly matters – your connection.
The Love Letter Reimagined
Gone are the days of handwritten love letters only (though they remain a powerful tool). With the Galaxy S25, you could ask Gemini to suggest a romantic haiku poem, or use Note or Chat Assist to write a short and sweet romantic message for your other half. With a few easy finger taps, your thoughts and dreams are ready to be shared with your partner most chicly.
Thoughtful Gestures, Simplified
In the digital age, gestures of love have never been easier. In-app Search helps you find and share memories, whether it’s an old photo or a sweet note, that instantly warms the heart. Want to surprise your partner with a long-lost photo from your first date or a memory from a shared trip? It’s as simple as searching and sending, strengthening your connection in the most heartfelt ways.
The Gift of Knowing Exactly What They Want
You could be “Netflix and Chilling” with your partner, and they see an item (anything from a plant to a pair of shoes) they like and you immediately think of getting it for them. No more guessing – Circle to Search is the secret weapon of thoughtful gift-giving, allowing you to snap and circle what’s on screen (whether it’s a photo or video) to search for exactly what your loved one wants. Circle to Search lets you get all the information about it (like where you can get it) without giving away your secret romantic intention. So, whether you’re buying a Valentine’s Day gift or surprising them on a special occasion, it’s all made effortless, ensuring every gift is a hit.
Want another way gift-searching has been enhanced? With its human-like ability to interpret your needs, the Galaxy S25’s multimodal search can help you combine voice, image, and text inputs to search for ideas. Simply take pictures of items your partner likes, and the system can recommend gifts based on those inputs.
Headline: Progress and lessons learned on the road to 2030 climate goals
2025 is a notable year in the world’s continued efforts toward a more sustainable future. It marks the five-year countdown to 2030, the end of the timeline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 2025 will also be the 30thconvening of the UN Climate Change Conference—also known as COP30—and it is taking place in Brazil, both a symbolically and strategically important nation in the world’s fight against climate change and environmental degradation.
It is also a notable year for Microsoft. In addition to celebrating the 50thanniversary of our company’s founding, it is the midpoint of our own sustainability journey. In 2020 we announced our ambitions to be carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030, all while protecting ecosystems. We have made tremendous progress over the past five years, and we are proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve also learned lessons along the way, lessons that constantly inform and shape our path toward 2030 and beyond.
The goals that we set in 2020 reflected what we believed we needed to do in order to help push the world toward a net-zero economy. I joined Microsoft on this journey two years ago—becoming our Chief Sustainability Officer in January 2023—and I continue to be impressed by the work of employees across the company in their relentless pursuit of these goals.
In June 2020, we announced our largest power PPA to date at the time—a 500MW PPA with Sol Systems. Today, we are one of the largest carbon-free energy buyers in the world, with a 34-gigawatt (GW) contracted renewable energy portfolio across 24 countries to date. We are bringing more carbon-free electricity onto the grids where we operate, and we continue to advocate for the expansion of clean energy solutions around the world.
A key component of our water positive goal is to replenish more water than we consume across our global operations. We’ve grown our replenishment portfolio to 90 projects in over 40 locations around the world.
On our journey to become zero waste, we’re finding opportunities to keep electronics in circulation. The repairability of our current portfolio of Surface devices has evolved significantly from our first field-repairable product in 2019. This is also true of Xbox,which recently announcedhow they’re working to expand the number of ways players can get support to repair their consoles and accessories.
We exceeded our land protection goal, with 15,849 acres of protected land and surpassed our initial target of 11,000 acres by more than 40%.
This is only a snapshot of the real progress we’ve made over the last 5 years. We have a longstanding commitment to sustainability, and our experience shows us that the investments and innovations we’ve focused on are good for our company, our customers, the economy, and our planet. Every investment has also been a learning opportunity, a chance to test our assumptions and adjust as needed.
While we are proud of these achievements, we know that our work is far from over, and that the path ahead has gotten harder. The world is not on track to meet critical climate goals and we see many of these challenges reflected in our own journey.
In 2020, Microsoft leaders referred to our sustainability goals as a “moonshot,” and nearly five years later, we have had to acknowledge that the moon has gotten further away. However, the force creating this distance from our goals in the short term is the same one that will help us build a bigger, faster, and more powerful rocket to reach them in the long term: artificial intelligence (AI). This is not hyperbole. Already, we are seeing AI make a positive impact on the planet, and in the coming years, this technology will begin to rapidly accelerate climate solutions at a scale we’ve not yet seen. In November 2023, we introduced ourAI and Sustainability Playbook, which highlights five foundational enabling conditions needed to unlock AI’s full transformative potential for accelerating sustainability progress. In January, weshared a reportthat highlights our progress and the innovations that have advanced each of those five pillars.
Building the AI economy of the future is a top priority for our business, but we are also in the business of sustainability. As CSO, it is my job to ensure that these dual mandates are working together.
To achieve this, we need to run our sustainability initiatives like we run the rest of our business: ensuring that our focus is on the highest-impact interventions that truly move the needle when it comes to planetary impact.
Carbon Neutrality
Microsoft announced that it was carbon neutral in 2012, several years ahead of our ambitious goal to be carbon negative by 2030. Microsoft’s prior years achieving carbon neutrality were based on a common combination of environmental attributes purchased with funds from our corporate-wide carbon fee and our overall carbon emissions reduction efforts. This is a prime example of where we have learned and adjusted along our journey. While we continue to apply the carbon fee to investments in emissions reductions, we have ceased purchasing non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates. We are refocusing the use of these funds on more long-term, higher-impact investments across carbon reduction, carbon removal, and clean electricity procurement. These interventions are expected to more effectively help us achieve our goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030 and may take us out of carbon-neutral position.
We will also continue to invest in innovative climate solutions through our $1BClimate Innovation Fund (CIF). Since launching the CIF in 2020, Microsoft has committed nearly $800M to solutions ranging from sustainable fuels and low-carbon building materials to carbon dioxide removal, water innovation, and circular economy technologies. We now have a portfolio of 63 investees that we’re helping to scale. Going forward, we will extend this strategy and continue to invest our capital to build new markets and increase the market supply of emerging sustainable technologies to address carbon, water, and waste.
We are proud to continue making decisions that drive positive environmental impact in the market and deliver high-integrity investments. We remain resolute in our commitment to our climate goals and to empowering others with the technology needed to build a more sustainable future.
In my first year with Microsoft, I wrote a piece on LinkedIn:Removing Roadblocks in the Race to Net Zero, where I compared reaching our sustainability goals to training for a marathon, noting that “it will take focus, planning, and perseverance to reach the finish line.” Today—and now two years into my role—I would like to add another comparison, to an African proverb that says the following: “If you want to travel fast, travel alone; if you want to travel far, travel together.”
In 2025, the moon is further away, so we all must travel together and do more if we are going to reach it. We will continue to work in close collaboration with our employees, customers, suppliers, industry peers, partners, and with policymakers to maximize our impact in pursuit of our shared goals.
Tags: COP30, net zero, sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals, UN Climate Change Conference
Source: International Marine Contractors Association – IMCA
Headline: IMCA publishes industry’s first dedicated guidance for DP1 vessel operators
IMCA has published the marine contracting industry’s first comprehensive guidelines for the safe and efficient operation of DP1 Vessels.
The newly published IMCA M268– Recommended Practice for the Operation of Class 1 DP Vessels, sets out best practice in the operation of DP1 ships, which do not have the redundant capabilities of Dynamic Positioning (DP) class 2 & 3 systems.
The guidance, now available for IMCA Members to download, emphasises the importance of understanding the limitations of DP1 vessels, and contains recommended guidance on achieving operational preparedness and ensuring that crew members have the required training and experience.
Power system redundancy is a critical mechanism within DP systems that ensures a vessel can maintain its position in the event of the failure of power components.
Given these limitations, IMCA now recommends that:
·DP1 vessels should not undertake any operation where a loss of position or heading would be deemed unacceptable,
·Using only two differential GNSS systems for position reference is not acceptable for DP1 operations,
·The lower level of redundancy on DP1 vessels requires a significantly higher level of experience and understanding. There is no guarantee that a DP operator from a DP2 vessel has the transferable skills to operate a DP1 vessel safely and efficiently.
IMCA’s DP Committee produced the guidance in response to the growth in the number of DP1 vessels entering service in recent years.
Of the offshore vessels, dredgers, and other non-cargo vessels built since 1975, more than 1,000, some 8%, have a DP1 system according to Clarksons data, representing 25% of all DP vessels.
However, these vessels are not required to have redundant systems or equipment, and are not required to maintain their position and/or heading after single point failure.
This means that, without a clear understanding of the characteristics and limitations of DP1 vessels, charterers may have unrealistic expectations of these vessels’ performance and their ability to meet the assurance standards normally expected of DP equipment class 2 or 3 vessels.
There are multiple IMCA documentsthat contain guidance and best practices for DP operations. This year, IMCA published revised versions ofIMCA M140– Recommended Practice for Specification and Use of DP Capability Plots, and toIMCA M220– Recommended Practice on Operational Activity Planning, both of which are available now for IMCA Members to access.
Headline: Our new partnership with WSP will accelerate digital and AI transformation across the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry.
Microsoft & WSP: 𝗔 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Today, we are excited to announce a transformative partnership between WSP and Microsoft. WSP is designated as a Microsoft preferred partner for engineering and science consultancy. WSP is also designating Microsoft as a preferred partner for digital and AI transformation services. In addition, we’ll co-develop innovative and responsible offerings together, to drive business gains across the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Combining Microsoft’s advanced technologies and WSP’s engineering and scientific know-how will transform how we deliver digital solutions, helping to solve our clients’ most pressing challenges and fostering a brighter future for communities globally. https://lnkd.in/ewM7mEUh #WeAreWSP #WSPVisioneers
Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN, today hosted a dinner for the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR), in honour of H.E. Ambassador Bovonethat Douangchak, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN, who will soon conclude his tenure in Jakarta. Since assuming his post in 2021, Ambassador Bovonethat Douangchak has played a pivotal role in the work of the CPR, especially during his time as Chair of the CPR in 2024.
The post Secretary-General of ASEAN hosts dinner for the Outgoing Permanent Representative of Lao PDR to ASEAN appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated February 07, 2025, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1.50 lakh (Rupees One Lakh Fifty Thousand only) on The Tiruppur Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Tamil Nadu (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Exposure Norms and Statutory / Other Restrictions – UCBs’, and ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Sections 46(4)(i) and 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The statutory inspection of the bank was conducted by RBI with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2023. Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said directions. After considering the bank’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found, inter alia, that the following charges against the bank were sustained, warranting imposition of monetary penalty:
The bank had failed to:
adhere to the prudential inter-bank (gross) exposure limit; and
upload the KYC records of customers onto Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR) within the prescribed timeline.
This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Further, imposition of this monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the bank.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated February 07, 2025, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) on The Ramanathapuram Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Sections 46(4)(i) and 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The statutory inspection of the bank was conducted by RBI with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2023. Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said directions. After considering the bank’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found, inter alia, that the following charge against the bank was sustained, warranting imposition of monetary penalty:
The bank had failed to upload the KYC records of customers onto Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR) within the prescribed timeline.
This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Further, imposition of this monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the bank.
It is hereby notified for information of the public that in exercise of powers vested in it under sub section (1) of Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide Directive Ref. No. CO.DOS.SED.No.D-01/12-22-350/2024-2025 dated February 13, 2025, has issued certain Directions to New India Co-operative Bank Limited, Mumbai (“the bank”), whereby, as from the close of business on February 13, 2025, the bank shall not, without prior approval of RBI in writing, grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, enter into any compromise or arrangement and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets except as notified in the RBI Direction dated February 13, 2025, a copy of which is displayed on the bank’s website / premises for perusal by interested members of the public. Considering the bank’s present liquidity position, the bank has been directed not to allow withdrawal of any amount from savings bank or current accounts or any other account of a depositor but is allowed to set off loans against deposits subject to the conditions stated in the above RBI Directions. The bank may incur expenditure in respect of certain essential items such as salaries of employees, rent, electricity bills, etc., as specified in the said Directions.
2. These directions are necessitated due to supervisory concerns emanating from the recent material developments in the bank, and to protect the interest of depositors of the bank.
3. The eligible depositors would be entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount of their deposits up to a monetary ceiling of ₹5,00,000/- (Rupees five lakh only) in the same capacity and in the same right, from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), as applicable under the provisions of the DICGC Act, 1961, based on submission of willingness by the depositors concerned and after due verification. The depositors may contact the bank officials for further information. Details may also be accessed on the DICGC website: www.dicgc.org.in.
4. The issue of the above Directions by the RBI should not per se be construed as cancellation of banking license by RBI. The bank will continue to undertake banking business subject to restrictions specified in the said Directions till its financial position improves. The RBI continues to monitor the position of the bank and will take necessary actions including modifications of these Directions, as warranted, depending upon circumstances and in the interest of the depositors.
5. These Directions shall remain in force for a period of six months from the close of business on February 13, 2025 and are subject to review.
Samsung was named a Gold Winner of the 2025 AVA Digital Awards program, an annual, international competition that recognizes excellence in digital communications. The company received this distinction for its integrated marketing campaign, “Samsung Celebrates Big Ideas, Small Businesses,” which aimed to spotlight the lifeblood of the U.S. economy – small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) launched the AVA Digital Awards program over 30 years ago to honor creative professionals and teams from across industries for the planning, concept, direction, design and production of both digital campaigns and projects. Samsung’s multifaceted campaign set itself apart from other nominees through its use of marketing strategy, social media and influencer marketing, content marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing, web development and public relations to promote how SMBs are actively using display technology and software to achieve their unique business goals.
SMBs featured in the campaign included:
Harvest Gap Brewery
Wrigleyville Sports
Figurella
Beach People Studio
SB Korean BBQ
Through the campaign, Samsung garnered over 1 million impressions and 30K engagements across its social channels and notable media placements in publications such as Commerce magazine, the official magazine of the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ). As a result of its product giveaway and a special holiday pricing promotion hosted in tandem with the campaign, Samsung awarded Big Spoon Creamery, an Alabama-based artisan ice cream company, a Samsung Pro TV and a one-year subscription to the all-in-one content management system Samsung VXT.
“As a long-time partner of SMBs, this campaign served as an amazing opportunity to shine a light on many incredible entrepreneurs currently using our display technology within their businesses,” said Sukhmani Mohta, Chief Marketing Officer of the Display Division, Samsung Electronics America. “We are proud to not only take home Gold in the AVA Digital Awards, but also to amplify the unique brand stories of our SMB customers on a larger stage.”
To learn more about how Samsung’s digital signage innovations help small businesses engage their customers, please visit samsung.com/us/business/displays.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you very much for your warm welcome.
I am honoured to have been invited back to this year’s Frankfurt Digital Finance Conference in this wonderful building here in Frankfurt’s Palmengarten and to have been asked to hold a keynote to kick off today’s event.
Allow me to begin my keynote this morning with a quote attributed to Oscar Wilde: The future belongs to those who recognise opportunities before they become obvious. These words, ladies and gentlemen, could not be any better suited to our financial ecosystem.
And it is precisely opportunities that I wish to address in my keynote today – the opportunities provided by central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs for short. A subject that is as timely as it is significant.
2 The future is digital
We are at the cusp of a new era. One in which the digitalisation of the financial sector is not just an option but a necessity. New technologies are venturing into the realm of payments and new forms of money, such as digital central bank currencies and stablecoins, are also emerging as alternatives to physical cash.
These developments all pose new challenges for central banks. Ultimately, central banks must continue to ensure secure and efficient payments in line with their mandate and redefine their role in an increasingly digitalised world in order to maintain the public’s trust in our monetary system.
The question that we therefore now face is: how do we respond to these technological challenges?
And that is precisely why we in the Eurosystem – by that I mean the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro-area member states, including the Bundesbank – are taking a proactive approach to actively help shape the future of Europe’s digital financial ecosystem.
3 What are we aiming to achieve with the introduction of a digital euro?
One could argue that the Eurosystem already offers enough sufficiently well-functioning products, be it physical banknotes and coins or cashless payment instruments. After all, these have proven their worth for decades. Yet at the same time, we cannot simply ignore the evolving world around us. In an increasingly digitalised society, we must adapt to the changing needs and demands of consumers and rethink our payment services.
Let me outline the three key motivations behind the possible introduction of a retail CBDC in Europe – a digital euro, which we sometimes like to summarise as resilience, autonomy and efficiency.
Let me first start with resilience. The foundation of an independent and efficient monetary policy is the adoption and use of the euro. By providing our common currency – the euro – in its form as legal tender and as a modern “all-in-one” digital payment solution, we are paving the way for our currency to enter the digital age, making it “future-proof” and fit for purpose in an increasingly digital society.
The digital euro would thereby help to preserve the euro’s fulfilment of the core monetary functions and shield the euro area from competing foreign currencies as well as foreign – and potentially unregulated – stablecoins by safeguarding the anchor function of central bank money.
Second, the digital euro is necessary to improve the autonomy of the European payment system. In its current form, the European payments landscape is highly dependent on non-European providers. Almost 25 years after the introduction of the euro, we still do not have a digital payment solution that can be used across the entire euro area and that runs on a European infrastructure, which, in my view, is not compatible with the concept of a single European market. Although a small number of successful payment innovations have emerged across the euro area over the past years, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands or BIZUM in Spain, the reach of these payment solutions usually ends at national borders.
As a result, payments in Europe are largely dependent on international schemes, primarily those in the United States. At present, just under two thirds of all card payments in the euro area are processed by non-European providers. And I believe that Europe’s dependencies in the digital age are likely to increase if we do not fundamentally take matters into our own hands.
Third, is the issue of efficiency. By creating a pan-European payment rail in a technically modern form, we would foster competition and innovation in payments across Europe, which we believe is the best path towards efficiency in payments. The payment initiatives we have today, such as BIZUM or WERO, would be able to integrate the digital euro into their payment applications, thereby enabling them to gain instant European reach.
4 What would a digital euro be for the common citizen?
Although the issues I have just touched upon are very important, they are not necessarily of primarily relevance for the daily life of a majority of citizens in Europe. Hence, what would the digital euro be from the perspective of the customer?
I believe that the digital euro would not just be a commitment to Europe’s autonomy, increase the resilience of our payment system and foster competition and innovation, it would also improve payments and make life easier for the 350 million residents of the euro area.
The digital euro would serve as an additional means of payment alongside cash. As a digital upgrade of banknotes and coins, it would be an “all-in-one payments solution”, as we like to call it, which means it can be used in almost all everyday payment situations, including at retail checkouts, transactions among family and friends, online purchases, and payments to or from public authorities. Furthermore, it would be the first digital currency which could be used both online and offline. That is to say, also in the event of a loss of internet reception.
Moreover, the design of the digital euro would ensure that it would offer the highest possible level of user privacy, comparable only to cash. No other digital means of payment in Europe currently offers all these features.
Despite the many benefits the digital euro would bring for Europe as a whole, we must, nevertheless, proceed with caution. The introduction of a digital euro raises important questions about privacy, security, and the impact on financial stability and monetary policy. We must ensure that the digital euro upholds the highest standards of data protection, that it is resilient against cyber threats, and that it does not have a negative impact on financial stability.
5 Wholesale CBDC
Digitalisation raises questions not only in terms of how we intend to continue providing access to central bank money for our European citizens in future, but also in terms of how we intend to supply money to our wholesale customers. It is and will remain essential that we are able to settle digital transactions using new and innovative technologies, such as distributed ledger technology(DLT)in central bank money. An entire ecosystem is currently evolving around the tokenisation of securities, which involves all parts of the financial system.
Like other financial players, the Bundesbank, and also the Eurosystem as a whole, see the significant benefits that the use of these new technologies can bring. The advantages ofDLT,such as automated settlement by means of smart contracts and reduced reconciliation needs, are clear.
But to fully harness this potential, we also need an innovative settlement mechanism for the cash leg – one which settles transactions in central bank money. We are therefore working on developing wholesale solutions that enable banks to settleDLT–based financial market transactions in central bank money.
The Eurosystem recently completed an exploration phase together with the market, which ran from May to November 2024, during which we tested various new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement using real transactions. The Bundesbank also participated in this exploration phase with its “Trigger solution”, which builds a bridge between DLT platforms and the conventional TARGET payment system. The feedback we have received from the market so far has been very positive. I think we can already say that the exploration phase was a complete success.
The anticipated benefits of DLT are seen as having the potential to address and overcome the ecosystem’s current shortcomings, such as fragmentation, complexity, over-intermediation, and technological inefficiencies, which hinder the growth of a digital capital markets union.
By developing a new ecosystem from the ground up, it could be made more integrated and harmonised, featuring a “common set of rails” – a shared ledger or a network of fully interoperable ledgers – that would guarantee reachability, open access, and compatibility across the services of all participants.
Our primary focus is now on implementing a short-term wholesale solution to meet the immediate and growing demands of the market. This will buy us some much-needed time to continue working on a vision for a long-term solution for wholesaleCBDC.A solution which must ultimately go hand in hand with the evolving financial market ecosystem.
6 Business-to-business (B2B) payments
Alongside its work into the possible introduction of a digital euro and the exploration of wholesaleCBDC,theECB,together with the Eurosystem, has also been turning its focus to another area of payments – one which is increasingly gaining traction: business-to-business payments, or B2B payments for short.
To fully leverage the potential of the evolving payments landscape in the area ofCBDCs,last October the ECB organised a special focus workshop on innovations in B2B payments and the role central bank money could play.
This workshop provided a one-of-a-kind platform to learn more about the potential use cases out there in the market. Given the high level of interest shown in the first focus workshop, I’m sure this will not be the last one of its kind.
7 Outlook
Ladies and gentlemen,
The introduction of the digital euro and the exploration of wholesale CBDC and B2B use cases are not just a technical exercise, but a clear commitment to the innovative strength and competitiveness of Europe.
The Bundesbank and the Eurosystem are determined to play an active role in shaping this digital transformation.
It is, however, crucial that we continue working together and pool our resources and expertise in order to fully exploit the opportunities offered by digitalisation to create a strong, stable and future-proof digital financial ecosystem for Europe.
Introductory remarks by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the MNI Webcast on Climate Change: Impact on Monetary Policy and Bank Supervision
Frankfurt am Main, 12 February 2025
Central banks and supervisors are not climate and nature policymakers.
Central banks and supervisors are climate and nature policy takers.
And we face an ever-increasing volume of climate and nature-related factors that we must take into account in order to successfully deliver on our mandate.
This is the fundamental principle that underpins all our climate and nature-related activities at the European Central Bank.
It is a principle grounded in irrefutable facts established by the scientific community and transposed to make their implications clear for the economy and financial system. At the ECB, we have translated this principle into our monetary policy and supervisory work as a strategic commitment to account for the ongoing climate and nature crises, irrespective of shifts in the macroeconomic tides and no matter what direction the political winds may blow.
This is why, both in our monetary policy and in our banking supervision, we have meticulously formulated strategies that are robust and resilient in all weathers. In the face of changing climates, be they macroeconomic, political or indeed at the level of our planetary ecosystem, we will continue to deliver on our mandate to keep prices stable and ensure Europe’s banks are safe and sound.
Climate and nature in monetary policy
Let me start with what we our doing when it comes to accounting for climate and nature in our monetary policy.
When the ECB concluded its strategy review in the summer of 2021, our new strategy explicitly acknowledged the profound implications of climate change for the economy and therefore its relevance for monetary policy. In our strategy, we also formulated a concrete action plan, and we are delivering on that plan.
First, we have made significant progress in improving our ability to take climate considerations into account in the macroeconomic analyses that inform our policy discussions.
Second, with respect to our monetary policy instruments, we started tilting our purchases of corporate bonds towards issuers with a better climate performance to avoid undue exposures to climate-related risks. While the last remaining purchases were suspended at the start of this year, if any corporate bond purchases were to be needed for monetary policy purposes in the future, the established direction of the tilt would set the minimum benchmark. With respect to the collateral we require for our lending operations, further technical work on incorporating climate change collateral considerations is still ongoing.
Our current actions aim to support a high degree of confidence in the alignment of our activities, within our mandate, with the goals set by the Paris Agreement. We have committed to regularly reviewing all our measures to assess their impact. If necessary, we will adapt them to ensure they continue to fulfil their monetary policy objectives and support the decarbonisation path to reach the goals set by the Paris Agreement and the EU’s climate neutrality objectives. Within our mandate, we will also look into addressing additional nature-related challenges.
Climate and nature in banking supervision
Let me move to the steps we have taken in banking supervision.
Our supervisory strategy was formulated after we learnt in 2019 that less than a quarter of the banks under our supervision had demonstrably reflected on how the climate and nature crises were affecting their risk management. This observation was obviously concerning, so in 2020 we published a guide setting out our supervisory expectations. These expectations outline the ECB’s understanding of the safe and prudent management of climate and nature-related risks under the prevailing prudential framework. Since then, we have consistently taken these risks into account in our supervisory work.
Considering the requirements clearly set out in the Capital Requirements Directive as implemented in national law, and the need for banks to implement a regular process for identifying all material risks, banks must ensure that practices are in place for the sound management of climate and nature-related risks. They had to achieve this by the end of last year and, in the run-up to that deadline, we also set interim deadlines for banks to remediate certain shortcomings related to the management of these risks. These deadlines were informed by what the banks themselves considered reasonable when we first started discussing climate and nature-related risk management with them.
We are still following up on the two earlier interim deadlines while we begin assessing banks’ practices in light of their final end-2024 deadline.
After the first interim deadline back in March 2023, we saw that many banks still had not implemented an adequate materiality assessment of the impact of climate and nature-related risks across their portfolios. The ECB imposed binding supervisory decisions on 28 banks, with 22 of them being told that if they did not remedy their shortcomings by a certain date, they would incur a periodic penalty payment for each day they remained in breach of our requirements. Encouragingly, almost all banks submitted an adequate materiality assessment in time, which shows that our supervisory efforts have been effective in almost all cases. For a few banks, the process to determine whether penalties have been incurred is ongoing.
For the second interim deadline of the end of 2023, we asked banks to clearly include climate and nature-related risks in their governance, strategy and risk management. As with the first interim deadline, we found weaknesses in banks’ practices that we communicated to them in the form of further feedback letters. In a small group of outliers, foundational elements for the adequate management of climate and nature-related risks are still missing. These banks received binding supervisory decisions in autumn 2024, again outlining the potential imposition of periodic penalty payments if they fail to meet the requirements in a timely manner.
To avoid any doubt, we will proceed in exactly the same way with respect to the third and final deadline that fell due at the turn of the year. We want to see evidence that banks’ risk management practices ensure the sound management of climate and nature-related risks across all areas of our supervisory expectations. For instance, this means that banks need to consider these risks in their stress-testing frameworks, including in plausible baseline and adverse scenarios that are in line with scientific evidence. Thereafter, banks will have to keep updating their practices in accordance with advances in data availability, methodologies and legislative and regulatory requirements. Banks need to ensure that their risk management practices remain commensurate with the magnitude of the climate and nature-related risks that they face. As supervisors, it is our job to make sure they do. To deliver on this, we will use – obviously always in a proportionate way – all supervisory instruments that we have at our disposal.
Conclusion
Let me conclude.
While the fundamental principle – that climate and nature are relevant for both monetary policy and banking supervision and, therefore, must be taken into account in the exercise of our tasks – is independent of the actions of climate and nature policymakers, the intensity and configuration of the risks that will ultimately materialise is not. The choices that climate and nature policymakers make will determine what combination of transition and physical risks materialises in the years to come. Regrettably, the prevailing consensus among climate scientists is that the goal of limiting global heating to 2 degrees Celsius, as set out in the Paris Agreement, is not currently being met. Last October the UN Emissions Gap Report concluded that the world is on track for an average increase of 3.1 degrees.[1] And even that dramatic number will only be achieved if all governments stick with their current policies. The physical risks of climate and nature hazards are currently materialising at an ever-increasing scale and frequency.[2] These physical risks will continue increasing or transition policies will have to be implemented more abruptly to secure a timely transition which will cause an increase in transition risks.
To identify climate and nature-related risks, central banks, supervisors and the banks we supervise are reliant on good data. Reporting requirements in the EU’s sustainable finance framework will improve the availability of reliable and comparable data that are needed to identify and manage financial risks. This is essential to ensure that the broader sustainable finance framework can serve its purpose of unlocking finance for the green transition and thereby contributing to Europe’s competitiveness agenda.
It is inevitable that climate and nature-related risks will increase. Concealing them will not make them disappear. And ignoring them will not make them less threatening for monetary policy and banking supervision. This is why we are delivering on our strategic commitment to take them into account in our work.
Headline: Thales, Amelia and Breakthrough Energy Contrails launch one of world’s largest Contrail Avoidance campaigns
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Thales, in collaboration with the airline Amelia, and Breakthrough Energy Contrails, announces the large-scale deployment of a contrail avoidance solution, which has already been tested on the flight routes from Paris and Valladolid (Spain). Contrails are one the major challenges in the ecological transition in aviation and this initiative has helped avoid more than 20 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) in 2024, reducing the climate impact1 of each flight by up to 40%.
By modifying the altitude of the planes rather than their lateral trajectory, the solution optimizes flight plans and thus limits the potential overconsumption of fuel to under 3%. Amelia plans to further expand this initiative in 2025, progressively applying it to most of its eligible flight operations, making this experiment one of the largest in the world.
With this solution, Thales, a key player in more sustainable aviation, offers a systematic approach that can be quickly integrated by all airlines, seeking to reduce their environmental impact as of today.
Thales, in partnership with Amelia and Breakthrough Energy Contrails, takes a major step towards more environmentally friendly aviation, by implementing an innovative contrail avoidance solution.
Since June 2024, Thales’ contrail avoidance solution has been deployed on all Paris-Valladolid flights operated by Amelia, using Embraer ERJ145 aircraft. This initiative is part of the DECOR project, supported by France’s 2030 investment plan.
Contrails, the artificial clouds produced by aeroplanes, trap heat from the sun, playing a role similar to that of greenhouse gases and thus significantly contributing to global warming. The impact of contrails can represent a significant part of the total climate footprint of aviation, rivalling even that of CO2.
By integrating its solution with Amelia’s Operational Control Center (OCC) tools, Thales enables OCC operations agents to directly obtain alternative trajectories to their flight plans, combining controlled operational impact and a significant reduction in contrails.
When a significant impact of contrails is detected, the Thales solution, Flights Footprint, suggests flight alternatives that allow for a significant reduction in climate impact, with a minimum average decrease of up to 40% in the total climate impact of the flight. This flight optimization relies solely on adjustments to the aircraft’s altitude, without changing their route, which helps to keep additional fuel consumption to below 3%.
Yannick Assouad, Executive Vice-President, Avionics, Thales said:“Thales’ contrail avoidance solution is a first for France. It is fully aligned with Thales’ strategy aiming to transform the aerospace industry towards a more environmentally-friendly future through technology, for more sustainable and responsible aviation”.
Based on proven scientific principles, this innovative solution utilizes the latest weather forecasts and the most advanced climate models provided by Breakthrough Energy Contrails to optimize the flight plan. At the end of each flight, these climate models, enriched by meteorological reanalysis data, are applied to the actual flight path of the aircraft to assess the effectiveness of avoiding contrail formation areas. Additionally, the installation of a ground camera, supplied by Reuniwatt, enables the solution’s effectiveness to be validated through the direct observation of contrails, thanks to the analyses conducted in partnership with the digital services company SII.
This project has prevented an average of more than 4 tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) per flight, initially affected by contrails. Amelia has decided to extend this system to eligible flights in 2025, becoming the first airline to systematically implement a contrail avoidance approach.
Adrien Chabot, Director of Sustainable Development at Amelia said: “Taking condensation trails into account allows for the analysis of the total climate impact of our operations and thus a better optimization of them. The challenge is to significantly and quickly reduce our impact on climate change by continuing the deployment of the Thales solution initiated in 2022. Today, it is probably one of the most promising approaches in terms of cost/benefit regarding climate impact.”
This solution, accessible and easily deployable, creates new horizons for all airlines, paving the way for more sustainable and responsible aviation on a global scale.
Matteo Mirolo, Head of Strategy at Breakthrough Energy Contrails said:“The impact of contrails on the climate, similar to that of CO2, is one of the major challenges of the ecological transition in aviation. We are delighted to collaborate with Thales to implement large-scale pilot avoidance campaigns, like this one done with Amelia, which are crucial when considering the eventual deployment of systematic avoidance measures.”
1 Cumulative impact of CO2 and non-CO2 effects.
About Thales
Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies specialized in three business domains: Defence & Security, Aerospace, and Cyber & Digital.
It develops products and solutions that help make the world safer, greener and more inclusive.
The Group invests close to €4 billion a year in Research & Development, particularly in key innovation areas such as AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, cloud technologies and 6G.
Thales has close to 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2023, the Group generated sales of €18.4 billion.
About Amelia
A major player in the aviation industry in Europe and Africa since 1976, Amelia is a French aeronautics group that ensures flight operations and the monitoring and maintenance of its aircraft.
Amelia’s fleet, consisting of 18 aircraft, meets the needs of its various activities, chartering on behalf of major international airlines, medical evacuations, and charter flights.
Amelia is a member of IATA since November 2022, endorsing the wider Fly Net Zero commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Breakthrough Energy Contrails is a non-profit initiative aimed at transforming contrail research into climate action.
Partnering with academic institutions, airlines, and technology companies, the team develops forecasting and flight planning tools to help airlines avoid high-impact contrail formation.
As part of the Breakthrough Energy platform, the initiative integrates technology, operations, and policy expertise to deliver scalable solutions for a clean aviation future.
The 36th Meeting of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR) Governing Council discussed the ASEAN-IPR’s 2025 work plan and its research and advocacy activities to promote peace and stability in the region. Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, San Lwin, attended the Meeting on behalf of the Secretary-General of ASEAN as an Ex-Officio member of the Governing Council.
The post The 36th Meeting of the ASEAN-IPR Governing Council discussed research and advocacy activities to promote peace and stability in the region appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated February 11, 2025, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) on The Mumbai Mahanagarpalika Shikshan Vibhag Sahakari Bank Ltd., Mumbai (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Sections 46(4)(i) and 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The statutory inspection of the bank was conducted by RBI with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2024. Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said directions. After considering the bank’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found, inter alia, that the following charge against the bank was sustained, warranting imposition of monetary penalty:
The bank had failed to carry out periodic review of risk categorisation of accounts at least once in six months.
This action is based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Further, imposition of monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the bank.
Headline: The implications of a democracies-only trade pact
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Headline: Moody’s Corporation Reports Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024; Sets Outlook for 2025
Moody’s Corporation Reports Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024; Sets Outlook for 2025
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) today announced results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024, provided its outlook for full year 2025 and updated medium-term guidance.
The Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Earnings Release and other earnings materials can be found on the Moody’s IR website at ir.moodys.com. In addition, the Earnings Release will be furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a Form 8-K and will be available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
“Moody’s delivered a strong finish in Q4, capping a year of incredible achievements with full year revenue growth of 20%,” said Rob Fauber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Moody’s. “We sit at the intersection of deep currents that are transforming the way companies do business and markets function. The investments we’ve made in our platform, data and product innovation, paired with disciplined execution, put us in a position to capitalize on these durable demand drivers for both businesses.”
Teleconference Details:
Date and Time
February 13, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. ET
Webcast
The webcast and its replay can be accessed through Moody’s Investor Relations website, ir.moodys.com within “Events & Presentations”.
Dial In
U.S. and Canada
+1-888-596-4144
Other callers
+1-646-968-2525
Passcode
515 6491
Dial In Replay
A replay will be available immediately after the call on February 13, 2025 and until February 20, 2025.
U.S. and Canada
+1-800-770-2030
Other callers
+1-609-800-9909
Confirmation code
515 6491
For further information, please contact Investor Relations at ir@moodys.com.
ABOUT Moody’s
In a world shaped by increasingly interconnected risks, Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) data, insights, and innovative technologies help customers develop a holistic view of their world and unlock opportunities. With a rich history of experience in global markets and a diverse workforce of approximately 16,000 across more than 40 countries, Moody’s gives customers the comprehensive perspective needed to act with confidence and thrive.
My time as a member of the Executive Board of the Riksbank has been quite special, with two extreme periods in terms of how inflation has developed. The first period had already started before I joined the Executive Board in 2012. During this time, inflation had been below target more or less consistently for more than half a decade, sometimes very much below. The problem, which we shared with many other central banks, was how to get inflation to rise towards the target. After a few years of better target attainment in 2017−2019, the global pandemic hit and was followed by a period in which inflation rose sharply and was far above the target, for the first time since its introduction some thirty years ago (see Figure 1). In other words, the problems we have had to deal with during this time have been of very different kinds.
What these periods have had in common, however, is that monetary policy has reacted clearly and decisively to bring inflation back to the target. This has required quite specific, and in some cases unique, measures. First, negative policy rates and large-scale securities purchases, something that had not been tried before. After that, the fastest and largest rate hikes during the inflation targeting period.
I believe there may be some merit in the fact that inflation targeting has now been tested both during a period of too low inflation and during a period of too high inflation − and of course that it has proved to pass the test. The investment in credibility that we have thus made could pay off in the form of making it slightly easier to conduct monetary policy in the future. More specifically, it could mean that we can allow ourselves to act a little less forcefully than we have done so far with the interest rate. But a prerequisite for this is that economic actors really see the target as credible and worth upholding, and act accordingly. This is what I intend to talk about here today.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you very much for your warm welcome.
I am honoured to have been invited back to this year’s Frankfurt Digital Finance Conference in this wonderful building here in Frankfurt’s Palmengarten and to have been asked to hold a keynote to kick off today’s event.
Allow me to begin my keynote this morning with a quote attributed to Oscar Wilde: The future belongs to those who recognise opportunities before they become obvious. These words, ladies and gentlemen, could not be any better suited to our financial ecosystem.
And it is precisely opportunities that I wish to address in my keynote today – the opportunities provided by central bank digital currencies, orCBDCsfor short. A subject that is as timely as it is significant.
2 The future is digital
We are at the cusp of a new era. One in which the digitalisation of the financial sector is not just an option but a necessity. New technologies are venturing into the realm of payments and new forms of money, such as digital central bank currencies and stablecoins, are also emerging as alternatives to physical cash.
These developments all pose new challenges for central banks. Ultimately, central banks must continue to ensure secure and efficient payments in line with their mandate and redefine their role in an increasingly digitalised world in order to maintain the public’s trust in our monetary system.
The question that we therefore now face is: how do we respond to these technological challenges?
And that is precisely why we in the Eurosystem – by that I mean the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro-area member states, including the Bundesbank – are taking a proactive approach to actively help shape the future of Europe’s digital financial ecosystem.
3 What are we aiming to achieve with the introduction of a digital euro?
One could argue that the Eurosystem already offers enough sufficiently well-functioning products, be it physical banknotes and coins or cashless payment instruments. After all, these have proven their worth for decades. Yet at the same time, we cannot simply ignore the evolving world around us. In an increasingly digitalised society, we must adapt to the changing needs and demands of consumers and rethink our payment services.
Let me outline the three key motivations behind the possible introduction of a retail CBDC in Europe – a digital euro, which we sometimes like to summarise as resilience, autonomy and efficiency.
Let me first start with resilience. The foundation of an independent and efficient monetary policy is the adoption and use of the euro. By providing our common currency – the euro – in its form as legal tender and as a modern “all-in-one” digital payment solution, we are paving the way for our currency to enter the digital age, making it “future-proof” and fit for purpose in an increasingly digital society.
The digital euro would thereby help to preserve the euro’s fulfilment of the core monetary functions and shield the euro area from competing foreign currencies as well as foreign – and potentially unregulated – stablecoins by safeguarding the anchor function of central bank money.
Second, the digital euro is necessary to improve the autonomy of the European payment system. In its current form, the European payments landscape is highly dependent on non-European providers. Almost 25 years after the introduction of the euro, we still do not have a digital payment solution that can be used across the entire euro area and that runs on a European infrastructure, which, in my view, is not compatible with the concept of a single European market. Although a small number of successful payment innovations have emerged across the euro area over the past years, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands or BIZUM in Spain, the reach of these payment solutions usually ends at national borders.
As a result, payments in Europe are largely dependent on international schemes, primarily those in the United States. At present, just under two thirds of all card payments in the euro area are processed by non-European providers. And I believe that Europe’s dependencies in the digital age are likely to increase if we do not fundamentally take matters into our own hands.
Third, is the issue of efficiency. By creating a pan-European payment rail in a technically modern form, we would foster competition and innovation in payments across Europe, which we believe is the best path towards efficiency in payments. The payment initiatives we have today, such as BIZUM or WERO, would be able to integrate the digital euro into their payment applications, thereby enabling them to gain instant European reach.
4 What would a digital euro be for the common citizen?
Although the issues I have just touched upon are very important, they are not necessarily of primarily relevance for the daily life of a majority of citizens in Europe. Hence, what would the digital euro be from the perspective of the customer?
I believe that the digital euro would not just be a commitment to Europe’s autonomy, increase the resilience of our payment system and foster competition and innovation, it would also improve payments and make life easier for the 350 million residents of the euro area.
The digital euro would serve as an additional means of payment alongside cash. As a digital upgrade of banknotes and coins, it would be an “all-in-one payments solution”, as we like to call it, which means it can be used in almost all everyday payment situations, including at retail checkouts, transactions among family and friends, online purchases, and payments to or from public authorities. Furthermore, it would be the first digital currency which could be used both online and offline. That is to say, also in the event of a loss of internet reception.
Moreover, the design of the digital euro would ensure that it would offer the highest possible level of user privacy, comparable only to cash. No other digital means of payment in Europe currently offers all these features.
Despite the many benefits the digital euro would bring for Europe as a whole, we must, nevertheless, proceed with caution. The introduction of a digital euro raises important questions about privacy, security, and the impact on financial stability and monetary policy. We must ensure that the digital euro upholds the highest standards of data protection, that it is resilient against cyber threats, and that it does not have a negative impact on financial stability.
5 WholesaleCBDC
Digitalisation raises questions not only in terms of how we intend to continue providing access to central bank money for our European citizens in future, but also in terms of how we intend to supply money to our wholesale customers. It is and will remain essential that we are able to settle digital transactions using new and innovative technologies, such as distributed ledger technology (DLT) in central bank money. An entire ecosystem is currently evolving around the tokenisation of securities, which involves all parts of the financial system.
Like other financial players, the Bundesbank, and also the Eurosystem as a whole, see the significant benefits that the use of these new technologies can bring. The advantages of DLT, such as automated settlement by means of smart contracts and reduced reconciliation needs, are clear.
But to fully harness this potential, we also need an innovative settlement mechanism for the cash leg – one which settles transactions in central bank money. We are therefore working on developing wholesale solutions that enable banks to settle DLT-based financial market transactions in central bank money.
The Eurosystem recently completed an exploration phase together with the market, which ran from May to November 2024, during which we tested various new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement using real transactions. The Bundesbank also participated in this exploration phase with its “Trigger solution”, which builds a bridge between DLT platforms and the conventional TARGET payment system. The feedback we have received from the market so far has been very positive. I think we can already say that the exploration phase was a complete success.
The anticipated benefits of DLT are seen as having the potential to address and overcome the ecosystem’s current shortcomings, such as fragmentation, complexity, over-intermediation, and technological inefficiencies, which hinder the growth of a digital capital markets union.
By developing a new ecosystem from the ground up, it could be made more integrated and harmonised, featuring a “common set of rails” – a shared ledger or a network of fully interoperable ledgers – that would guarantee reachability, open access, and compatibility across the services of all participants.
Our primary focus is now on implementing a short-term wholesale solution to meet the immediate and growing demands of the market. This will buy us some much-needed time to continue working on a vision for a long-term solution for wholesale CBDC. A solution which must ultimately go hand in hand with the evolving financial market ecosystem.
6 Business-to-business(B2B)payments
Alongside its work into the possible introduction of a digital euro and the exploration of wholesale CBDC, the ECB, together with the Eurosystem, has also been turning its focus to another area of payments – one which is increasingly gaining traction: business-to-business payments, or B2B payments for short.
To fully leverage the potential of the evolving payments landscape in the area of CBDCs, last October the ECB organised a special focus workshop on innovations in B2B payments and the role central bank money could play.
This workshop provided a one-of-a-kind platform to learn more about the potential use cases out there in the market. Given the high level of interest shown in the first focus workshop, I’m sure this will not be the last one of its kind.
7 Outlook
Ladies and gentlemen,
The introduction of the digital euro and the exploration of wholesaleCBDCandB2Buse cases are not just a technical exercise, but a clear commitment to the innovative strength and competitiveness of Europe.
The Bundesbank and the Eurosystem are determined to play an active role in shaping this digital transformation.
It is, however, crucial that we continue working together and pool our resources and expertise in order to fully exploit the opportunities offered by digitalisation to create a strong, stable and future-proof digital financial ecosystem for Europe.