Otherwise, the banking sector’s capacity to intermediate more effectively would be impaired for a longer time. Banks need to be determined to follow collateral execution procedures for insolvent borrowers. On the other hand, court decisions and particularly the actions of bailiff officers should be prompt and effective. I take this opportunity to appeal to the authorities to prioritize these actions. If legal procedures need to be complemented and improved further in order to enhance efficiency, the banking industry should make the necessary proposals in a prompt fashion and the public authorities should commit to considering them. Lastly, I want to elaborate on two other issues. The first relates to governance and accountability in banking operations and the second to the improvement of capacities for the identification, evaluation and management of risks. These two issues have continuously been part of our regular communication as they rest on the cornerstone of a safe and successful banking activity, public confidence on which remains unwavering. Concerning governance, last year I constantly highlighted the need for professionalism, commitment, responsibility, farsightedness and accountability to be reflected not only by you but they should also be embodied in your staff. To make this happen, policies and rules for defining strategies for the development, concrete decision-making, control of particular activities and their reporting to the institution and the public need to be continuously completed and improved. Internal control systems are the ones to determine the institution’s capacity to operate safely.
Lars Heikensten: EMU - cohesion or diversity? Speech by Mr Lars Heikensten, First Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riskbank, to The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm, on 10 November 2000. *  *  *  First a word of thanks for inviting me to speak. I greatly appreciate the opportunity of talking about matters to do with European integration to an audience outside the circles in which I normally move. This is all the more stimulating given that there is little more than a month to go before Sweden takes over the presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. I intend to begin by saying something about the history and principles behind the European Monetary Union and how they can be related to our theme today: cohesion or diversity. Although EMU was fully launched so recently, I must then comment on what has happened to date, as regards economic developments as well as the economic policy cooperation. I shall then briefly conclude with my view of the future for EU’s economic policy cooperation. Political as well as economic grounds for a monetary union Let us bear in mind that none of the things we are discussing today are entirely new. Common currencies were in use more than a century ago and some of them were valid throughout the continent of Europe. A joint standard and a rapidly growing economic exchange were already seen as natural goals around the turn of the 19th century.