The Federal Reserve's independence in bank regulation also provides stability and consistency to regulated institutions. I am not suggesting that bank regulation remain static in the face of change. To the contrary, the Federal Reserve's regulatory approach must be capable of addressing and adapting to new activities and new risks but also must be constantly directed towards furthering our statutory objectives.
The euro area is more open to the rest of the world than Japan or the United States. We accept global competition. When one member of EMU achieves a good level of competitiveness, as Germany currently has, this benefits the euro area as a whole.