I start with that description of the process because I want to emphasise that this is very much something that we’re doing with the involvement of the interested parties. It’s not just a topdown exercise. The process still has some way to go, and I’m not going to pre-empt any conclusions today.
One prominent international event was that, within hours of that hearing, the US Federal Reserve commenced the “tapering” of its monthly asset purchases. This was a possibility we talked about at the time and, although the timing of it wasn’t known, it was considered likely that it would begin before long. A further reduction in asset purchases was decided at the Fed’s January meeting.