Liabilities and capital position of central banks To begin with, I will focus on the capital and liability side of the balance sheet, since the most striking idiosyncratic feature of a central bank’s balance sheet is the existence of non-maturing liabilities that are not remunerated. I am referring, of course, to banknotes.
What I wish to say is simple – although we were aware of the job ahead of us, we embarked upon it,  BIS Review 14/2008  1  and there was absolutely no excuse for not doing so!