Lajos Bartha
Executive Director (Financial Infrastructures and Banking Operations), Magyar Nemzeti Bank
One hundred fifty-seven million eight hundred and fifty-two thousand eight hundred From a historical perspective, five years represent a small dot on the timeline. Working for five years on the same task can be tedious, demanding, depressing, demotivating, but it can also be exciting, challenging, fraught with ups and downs, tensions and adrenaline jolts, in other words, it can be special. This story is about the latter experience. This is my story of instant payments.
BACKGROUND I first entered the Magyar Nemzeti Bank as an employee on 1 October 1998. I like the special atmosphere emanating from the institution and the building, just like the tasks that, by nature, cannot be found elsewhere. We can, and also need to, escape from the humdrum of daily routine tasks sometimes, break free from the present’s conditions and constraints and pivot away from short-term goals towards finding ways how the financial system could work better in the long run. One can call this daydreaming, but it sounds more professional if we refer to it as creating a vision. The proposals and decisions of the MNB’s experts affect not only their own institution but also the economy of the whole country, which is not only a privilege but also a responsibility.
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