BIS Review 127/2009  1  •  Fifth, purchases of covered bonds in order to stimulate a market that has been traditionally an important source of funding for banks. In addition to this exceptional support to domestic financial markets, the ECB has also provided assistance to non-euro-area financial markets.
As you know, this is the first time I’m speaking publicly as President of the European Central Bank outside the ECB. I could not think of a more appropriate occasion than the European Banking Congress in the ECB’s home town.