Data on the unsecured market segment are published every six to eight weeks. With this project the ECB took an important step towards the future, becoming a collector of “big data”. But, of course, we didn’t do this on our own. A tale of cooperation Cooperation is often mentioned at conferences like this one. But in the field of statistics, it is simply a reality that you won’t get very far if you don’t cooperate with others. Projects such as the MMSR would never have come into being without good cooperation. In fact, the genesis of the MMSR involved the central banks of four countries – Germany, France, Italy and Spain – and the ECB. And of course, these institutions needed to cooperate with reporting banks. And cooperation happens not only between institutions, but also within institutions: the constant feedback loop between departments using the data and those preparing them leads to highquality results. But smooth cooperation has helped us from the start. It allowed the Eurosystem to achieve its objectives from day one, 20 years ago. Thanks to a joint effort by the entire Eurosystem, we had a set of harmonised euro area statistics from the very beginning of the ECB’s existence. And some 16 years later, when European banking supervision came into being, the Directorate General Statistics was able to provide the supervisory data we needed right from the start – thanks to another joint effort. Indeed, as the ECB’s functions have expanded, statistics have had to follow.
But we must also admit that there is not just scope, but also a need, to apply judgement when producing good data and statistics. And trust plays a key role here. People can trust the ECB and the national central banks to apply expert judgement when it is needed. In my speech today, I will focus on key ingredients that have been crucial in building up the ECB’s good reputation over the past 20 years. The first is to have good data and to use them well when taking decisions. The second is to ensure good cooperation. The third is to keep pace with changing times. Good data for good decisions 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  I am aware that the need for good data may seem self-explanatory, especially for an audience of statisticians. But that doesn’t make it less important, particularly in the case of the ECB. The stakes are extremely high: whether for monetary policy or banking supervision, our decisions impact the lives of over 340 million people. This gives the data we use, and the analysis we carry out, enormous importance. Our data need to be reliable and our statistics sound. Only then will they be able to form the basis for good decisions. But not all data are created equal. Even well-collected data may fall short of answering the burning questions of our experts. With the 2008 crisis, for example, we learned the hard way why better and more granular data are necessary.