ContextOpening speech by Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, at the seminar “The nature, functioning and responsabilities of a financial system without physical currency”, Bucharest, 4 June 2026.
Why it mattersRomania's long-serving Governor raises a forward-looking question: who answers for trust in money once cash disappears.
- Money is moving from cash to purely digital forms.
- A cashless system raises new questions of responsibility and trust.
- Transitions happen under deep uncertainty, without precedents.
- Study carefully how a system without physical currency should work.
- Keep central banks responsible for the soundness of digital money.
- Use international forums on financial stability to share lessons.
Read the speech summary
1. A meeting of academies in Sinaia
Opening a seminar in Sinaia with the Spanish royal academy for economic and financial science and Romania's Academy, National Bank of Romania Governor Mugur Isărescu welcomed guests, paid tribute to former Prime Minister Petre Roman and the improvised decisions of the early-1990s transition, and noted that the central bank has hosted an international financial stability seminar there for almost twenty years. He described long ties with the Spanish academy, recalled earlier joint sessions and his own talks on Romania's role in the EU and on monetary policy in an emerging economy, and said economics, law and sociology are anthropological disciplines that gain meaning through dialogue.
2. Money without cash
Reflecting on a career that began with handwritten ledgers and administered exchange rates, he said cash was once the only money citizens knew, whereas today people pay, send money abroad or borrow without touching banknotes, through bank cards, the internet, mobile payments and now central bank digital currencies. With the ECB and others debating a digital currency, he wondered whether central banks are agile enough to manage the shift without losing stability, trust and protection of citizens; he has no firm answers and values dialogue between solid institutions. He ended with Sinaia's history and a football anecdote, giving guests a commemorative coin on Steaua Bucharest's 1986 European Cup win over Barcelona.