Mervyn King’s presentation highlights the paradox which exists in monetary policy: money is largely ignored in monetary policies whereas inflation is a monetary phenomenon. So underestimating the specificity of money would carry significant risks.

Every day in our relations with customers, we realize the importance of money, in creating a bond with others, a bond of exchange, but also a social bond and a bond of recognition.

First, those that do not have another solution for carrying out payments, because they do not have a bank account or because they do not have access to means of payment outside the sphere of notes and coins. There are also those that are perfectly integrated into the economic and social life that choose this means of payment over others, despite the latter being safer and faster.

Thus the electronic wallet should be largely adopted in small amounts in “substitution” for notes and coins. Its diffusion would transform the exclusive relationship of money into a relationship privileged by no material support, without stigmatizing the relevant populations.

For several years, a multiplication of local systems of exchange has appeared between communities with complementary needs. The exchange of products or services constitutes vectors of social relations, which are factors of revival for the local economy. They are accompanied by a relationship of mutual trust and equity between individuals. The difficulty lies in isolating the beneficiaries in a closed community, since we note that the various forms of money can coexist in an interoperable system, without exclusion, once their users are integrated into a social, economic and cultural environment.

New technologies are an essential thrust in exchanges at the world level. A new form of money is likely to emerge, implemented by new actors and increasingly virtual in nature, which we may no longer be able to do without, much like bank money. The banks must deliver this.

The responsibility of banks is to issue means of payment necessary to economic activities at the lowest cost, while offering the safest and most diversified options, without endangering their competitive position or their profitability. Bank charges reflect paradoxically, not only objective factors (operating margins, interest rates, and discount rates of the central banks) but also historical references, habits and regulations, which extend beyond with purely financial criteria.

Characteristics of the electronic wallet (prepayment, payment of small amounts, limited bank balance, guarantee of issuers, etc.) leads one to think that risk of system breakdown, money laundering or fraud will be limited. For “network” money, technology risks are potentially higher, in particular in terms of safety and information.

The banks hold a legitimacy, which rests on the confidence of consumers and the financial market. In establishing electronic money, this requires: