6  BIS Review 103/2009  Second, the establishment of the ESRB and the attribution of macro-prudential tasks to the ECB will strengthen the ECB’s capacity (its power and means) to contribute to financial stability, without interfering with the performance of its monetary policy tasks.
As financial markets confronted all this, and also sought to digest a re-appraisal of near-term global growth prospects, we have seen during August a period of intense turmoil, particularly in equity markets. The net result of this period is that equity prices in most markets around the world are anything from 15 to 25 per cent below their recent highs.