*  *  *  I should like to thank the organisers for the opportunity to participate in this interesting event. We are here to discuss the important and profound changes taking place in the banking industry and financial markets worldwide. In Europe, these changes have been significantly intensified by the introduction of the euro.
I wish to offer my remarks today on the issue of preserving financial stability for the euro area in this rapidly changing environment. Ensuring effective banking supervision and crisis prevention plays a key role in this respect, and is facing challenges from two major sources: the internationalisation of financial activities and the geographical split between the jurisdiction of monetary policy and banking supervision.