* * *  1 Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the Deutsche Bundesbank’s reception on the occasion of Euro Finance Week. Gathered here this evening are not just high-ranking representatives from Germany’s banking industry but also stakeholders from European and German banking regulators and supervisors.
Nothing we have said suggests a change in our reaction function for the path of the short-term policy rate, and my sense is that our sharpened guidance on the duration of the asset purchase program also leaves us close to where market expectations – as expressed, for example, in various surveys that we monitor – were beforehand.