I would like to stress that the stability of inflation expectations has been remarkable, considering the series of adverse economic disturbances which have hit the euro area since its inception. And let me add that the ECB has always taken firm and timely actions to pursue a monetary policy which best serves the ultimate objective of maintaining price stability.
At the end of last year the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published its new Capital Framework for internationally active banks, known as Basel III. Basel III tries to do several things, but its main aim is to ensure that banks have bigger capital and liquidity buffers, so that they will be less highly leveraged than in the past.