This last aspect is of special relevance for Austria’s neighboring country Switzerland. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches    Central banks have not only played an essential role as lenders of last resort during the crisis, they are also actively involved in shaping the new financial supervisory architecture.
Does this imply that monetary policymakers should take responsibility for financial stability? In my view, ensuring price stability over the medium term remains the appropriate objective of monetary policy. In order to fulfil this task, monetary policy has basically one instrument at its disposal, the short-term interest rate.