Excellencies,
distinguished heads of regulatory authorities, colleagues and friends,
it is a pleasure to welcome you to this roundtable.
This event is always a defining moment in the GSR programme and helps set the direction for your work in the period ahead.
As regulatory leaders, you are called upon to determine the
institutional responses required by emerging challenges,
from AI governance and the new space economy to the urgent need for a sustainable digital transformation.
Those responses shape the regulatory environment for all stakeholders.
That is especially important today, as regulators are being asked to do so much more:
to support innovation and inclusion,
to navigate growing complexity,
and to ensure our institutions remain fit for purpose in a rapidly
evolving and increasingly uncertain digital environment.
Our discussion today has a clear purpose.
It will lead us to the adoption of the GSR-26 Best Practice Guidelines, under the theme ‘Regulatory governance essentials:
the new core kit regulators need to make digital markets deliver’.
These Guidelines recognize that regulatory action now, has direct implications for digital inclusion and innovation,
for investment,
for resilience and trust,
and the broader public interest.
For that reason, the Guidelines place the regulator as more than a rule-maker and market overseer.
It is also, increasingly, an enabler of digital development and a builder of the wider digital ecosystem.
This is in keeping with the shift we have been discussing for some time,
as regulators move from a traditional oversight role, to actively shaping the digital ecosystems of tomorrow.
Of course, that means the real value of the Guidelines lies in how they are used.
This is why I would like to underline their close connection with the Digital Readiness Framework,
an enhanced tool designed to help regulators translate the Guidelines into institutional practice.
Together, the GSR Best Practice Guidelines and the Digital Readiness Framework serve as practical instruments for regulatory leadership.
I would therefore encourage regulators to use the Guidelines and the Framework as part of their own work:
to assess readiness, to identify gaps,
to sequence reforms,
and to ensure that their institutions are ready for a rapidly evolving digital environment.
In that same spirit, I am pleased to announce that the Best Practice Guidelines will be made into a self-assessment tool for regulators.
This will take the process a step further.
It will build on the benchmarking foundation of the Digital Readiness Framework to transform the Guidelines into a practical agenda.
This self-assessment tool will be published on the Digital Regulation Platform.
As you all know, this is a key practical resource for regulators.
It brings together core materials, guidance, tools, and reference resources,
to support regulatory decision-making and capacity-building in the digital age.
Hosting the self-assessment tool on the Platform will make it easier for regulators to work with the Guidelines in a concrete and operational way.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am confident that the GSR-26 Best Practice Guidelines will provide timely and useful guidance for regulators,
as you navigate the digital frontier.
And I hope that, through the Digital Readiness Framework, the new self-assessment tool,
and the Digital Regulation Platform,
we can help translate that guidance into real institutional value.
I thank you for your leadership, for your engagement,
and for your commitment to regulatory excellence in service of our shared goal,
inclusive and meaningful digital transformation.
Thank you!
