I am happy to know therefore that we are on the same page, so to speak, as your convention theme this year is “Banking on Governance.” As declared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), good corporate governance is key not only to the integrity of corporations, financial institutions and markets it is also central to the health and stability of our economies.
During the last several decades, central banks have established credibility, using price stability-oriented monetary policy to do so. The ECB, like most other central banks, has a medium-term inflation objective at 2 per cent. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, the ECB mostly delivered on its objective, a few years slightly above its objective, but most of the time below that objective.