For example, since August, when we announced our policy of reinvesting maturing securities and signaled we were considering more purchases, equity prices have risen significantly, volatility in the equity market has fallen, corporate bond spreads have narrowed, and inflation compensation as measured in the market for inflation-indexed securities has risen from low to more normal levels.
Comparison with regulatory development in telecom and payments As a background, it can be useful to look at another industry that has experienced a similar change not too long ago. The telecommunication industry went through such a process in the early 2000s. In Europe, one of the most important steps was to unbundle services from infrastructure.