*  *  *  It is a great pleasure to be asked to speak in response to the distinguished lecture by Tim Geithner. As always, Tim’s remarks are at once thoughtful and thought-provoking, and contain much wisdom.
Rather, by changing the timing of liquidity provision within the maintenance period and increasing its average maturity, the ECB aimed to bolster the confidence of market participants that they would not be subject to shortages of liquidity at the end of the maintenance period when reserve requirements became binding and/or at times when outstanding obligations had to be rolled over in an uncertain market environment.