Moreover, the International Bankers Association, which is a group of foreign financial institutions active in Japan, issued a press release on March 15, soon after the earthquake, stating that major foreign financial institutions in Japan were continuing to operate business as usual. Subsequently, senior executives of such institutions visited Japan one after another and expressed their commitment to continue to do business in Japan.
Along with such communication, it is, as I mentioned earlier, of utmost importance that settlement systems and the financial markets physically continue to function as normal. Once financial infrastructure continues to function normally, unfounded rumors will disappear in due course. If, on the contrary, financial infrastructure does not function normally, the situation will  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  deteriorate further.