4  BIS Review 22/2006  Financial system assessment and regulatory balance Making assessments of financial stability risks, such as the sustainability of credit expansions and large asset price movements, is difficult. The extent to which central banks should attempt such assessments is also an area of considerable debate.
Much of the debate concerns rather polar positions, that is, whether or not central banks should ‘target’ asset prices. The financial stability assessment framework outlined in this speech does not approach this question as an "either-or" issue, but instead aims to assist an assessment-based approach by providing a framework of questions.