And at the end of the financial crisis, it is time to define the medium to long-term “lessons to be learned from the crisis”. To bring our analogy to a close: by the end of the recovery process, if not beforehand, it will be time to sit down and think about how we can prevent a future relapse.
Also a recent ECB study concludes that banks may significantly reduce their costs, but will face increased competition putting downward pressure on prices and revenues. 6 Already today, prices for payment  5  Capgemini et al. (2008). 6  Schmiedel (2007). 8  BIS Review 127/2008  services have gone down in a number of euro area countries.