Another important factor has been the very low level of policy interest rates in the United States and in most other industrialized economies. Indeed, one of the purposes of these policies is to induce investors to shift into riskier and longer-term assets in order to lower the cost and increase the availability of capital to households and businesses.
*  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen Thank you, Consul General Siebert, for hosting this event here at your residence. I am happy to have the opportunity to officially thank the Bundesbank’s outgoing representative, Thomas Notheis, and to welcome his successor, Alexander Sattler. Allow me to say a few words on the roots of international cooperation.