Up to the end of last year – as I have already mentioned – the German capital market and its most important products, the Federal Government bonds and the Jumbo Pfandbriefe benefited crucially from the stability of the D-Mark.
In this respect I hope that rapid progress will be made with the Commission’s legislative proposals on short selling and OTC derivatives, which address some important shortcomings of the current regulatory framework. We also need more work on credit rating agencies and hedge funds. Since December 2009, credit rating agencies in the EU have been subject to mandatory registration and oversight.