In order to consider the form of the financial sector in the future, I believe it is very important to distinguish between retail financial services (i.e., those for households and small businesses) and wholesale or large-scale corporate financial services. The customer bases of these two sectors differ dramatically, as do many of the products used.
In July, we entered a new phase in our policy normalisation that has entailed the adjustment of our rates towards levels that will ensure the timely decline of inflation to our 2 per cent medium-term target. As I highlighted before, there were several inter-related challenges with which our monetary policy was confronted.