To this end, the euro should become even more compelling as a means of payment and a trustworthy investment currency. Without prejudice to the ECB’s independence, we took note of the Commission’s support for our initiatives on market infrastructure and payments, which help to increase efficiency and financial market integration in the euro area.
Was it not only 48 months ago that the sale of Bear Stearns was finalized (on May 30, 2008) to stem the tide of market collapse? Yet when Lehman Brothers announced nine days later that it incurred a USD2.8 billion loss for its second quarter results, the chain of ensuing global difficulties could not have been rationally foreseen by any model or analysis.