In that context the Bank was established to ensure that the banknote issue was in line with the gold stock; in other words, the Bank had to ensure the convertibility of the currency or the maintenance of the value of the currency.
Back then, a different committee, which like the Delors Committee also met in Basel – the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision – made what turned out to be a momentous decision for the euro area. The new common set of international capital rules stipulated that government bonds be valued as risk-free assets, which meant that banks did not have to back them with capital.