“Thank you very much for inviting me to this significant forum. I'm very glad to see it happening here, and I hope that it can enhance collaboration between China and the Czech Republic.

Just as [President of the New Silk Road Institute Prague] Mr. Jan Kohout alluded to [in the preceding speech], there is still a lot of potential in the future. So today, please allow me to share with you some perspective on the current projects at work, in terms of the Czech financial market and financial sector.

The Czech Republic has its own currency, so the role of the National Bank is mainly to sustain financial stability and supervisory policies. So strengthening financial stability is at the top of the Czech National Bank’s agenda. Political change can happen, but we are always working together with partners like China. There are a lot of dynamics in the world, but we are trying to maintain a good relationship with other countries.

Back in 2010, Czech National Bank signed an MoU with the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), on supervision of banking institutions, so our cooperation with the Chinese society started as early as 2010. This is an MoU to enhance the collaboration and supervision of banking institutions, sharing information in the area of approving and granting of banking licenses.

In 2016, we expanded the scope of that MoU, mainly on the collaboration between the two supervisory authorities. We are also visiting each other more often than before.  

On behalf of the Czech Republic, we have also held a forum in Prague; we often [jointly] participate in financial forums. And as for support for the One Belt, One Road Initiative, I don't think I need to spend a lot of time explaining this initiative. [It’s aim] is to promote collaboration between the two sides, and the Czech Republic is also part of the initiative. We hope that we can collaborate more to improve mutual understanding between both sides.

As for Chinese investment in Czech, at this moment, two big banks in China – one is Bank of China, the other is ICBC – already set up their Prague branches in 2017. On top of that, Bank of Communications – also one of the largest banks in China – have also applied for a banking license.

As for investment in Czech companies, Home Credit made an investment in the Czech Republic, offering consumers loans. It is also committed to offering financial services and financing to the Czech Republic. I believe that this is also a win-win collaboration.

How can we further promote collaboration? Of course, what we need is a solid banking system and we also need to reduce negative factors, both for the protection of consumers, and also for financial literacy, sharing experiences with Czech National Bank on integrated supervision.

China's regulator is also expanding its scope of business. It has also integrated regulatory authorities into one big authority. We are working with our Chinese counterpart’s experience and knowledge sharing on topics like financial stability.

I firmly believe that we are a developed country that has a lot of experience. We can work together to share more expertise between us. During today's forum, we will also discuss challenges. So now please allow me to share with you some of my thoughts [in this area].

The Chinese financial market is not as stable as the European market. So there are a lot of opportunities, but there are also risks. So we are complementary to each other.

We truly welcome the initiative taken by China to open up the market further to the outside world. We believe that this could help us to promote our collaboration further. Thank you very much for your attention, and I wish this forum great success.”