I am particularly pleased at the retention of mortgage-backed promissory notes as this represents a positive result of a great deal of work undertaken by the Bank's representatives at Eurosystem level. In terms of market functioning, we particularly welcome the ACI initiative that is aimed at integrating the short-term securities markets across the euro-area.
Supported by the ECB, this should soon see the issuance of short-term securities under the imprimatur of the ACI STEP committee. Along with a small number of other euro-area national central banks, the Bank will contribute to the process of granting the STEP label, in our case for assets originating in Ireland and in some other jurisdictions.