Given the large number of small banks operating in the area, it is unrealistic to imagine centralizing every task. The ultimate responsibility for all the banks in the euro area will lie with the ECB, but to a varying degree and with modalities differentiated according to the banks’ characteristics.
The salient feature of Japanese households’ asset holding is the high proportion of life insurance coupled with the low share of investment trusts and government bonds. 5  I once carried out a simulation analysis on longer-term development of the external balance between Japan and the United States in the ageing process.