And the EU Treaty requires two things of us: first that we lend only to solvent banks; and second that we lend only against adequate collateral. So we will continue to extend liquidity to the Greek banks, as long as they are solvent and they have adequate collateral, as is the case today. Indeed, the amount of assistance we have provided is considerable.
One of the reasons for providing proposed guidance at several stages in the Basel II implementation process is to help guide U.S. institutions that wish to adopt Basel II as soon as possible. We suggest that those institutions continue to move forward with their implementation, including the identification of gaps in their own preparation, while remembering that proposals could change.