If liquidity assistance has to be provided for illiquid, but solvent, banks, national central banks would benefit from having "first-hand information", as supervisors, for the sake of maintaining or restoring financial stability. Hence, once a European framework is envisaged for financial regulation and supervision, it must necessarily provide for the meaningful involvement of the ESCB.
There is, however, no single solution to fit all countries and all environments. In Japan, as I have learnt, you have adopted a different approach. 6  BIS Review 98/2001  X Let us share a few thoughts on the international role of the euro. Three years into its life, the euro is the second most important currency in the world.