Scotti urges staged investment in interoperable digital finance
Bank of Italy Deputy Governor Chiara Scotti urged banks to build digital capabilities through staged investment while preserving a public monetary anchor. She spoke in Milan on October 23, 2026, at the International Institute of Banking Studies meeting.
Public money across new platforms
Scotti said the two-tier system preserves trust through public money and private intermediation.
Regulation, supervision, liquidity backstops and deposit insurance support bank money's convertibility at par.
A digital euro would extend cash's public outside option to digital payments, with supervised intermediaries managing distribution and customer relationships.
In wholesale markets, Pontes connects distributed-ledger platforms to TARGET Services for settlement in central bank money.
Launched on September 21, 2026, it has full implementation planned by 2028.
Appia explores longer-term interoperability, liquidity and collateral mobility.
Scotti warned that closed platforms risk fragmentation and dependence on providers; atomic settlement reduces principal risk, not liquidity needs.
Small market, lasting choices
Cited estimates put public-blockchain tokenized assets at €38 billion in February 2026, against €7.4 billion at the start of 2024 and global assets of €241 trillion at end-2025.
They exclude repos and do not comprehensively cover private ledgers.
The European Banking Authority reported limited live or pilot use of tokenized deposits in September 2026.
Scotti advocated modular systems, common data standards and digital-asset expertise through staged commitments.
Banks retain credit and liquidity roles but face competition for customer interfaces.
Flexibility rather than passivity
Scotti's central argument is that uncertainty warrants flexible investment, not withdrawal.
Waiting preserves options but delays learning and participation in setting standards.
For banks, she framed the choice around retaining customer relationships and supplying usable money, liquidity and collateral across platforms.