Jean-Claude Trichet: Interview with Die Welt Interview with Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, conducted by Jan Dams and Martin Greive on 7 October 2011. *  *  *  WELT: Mr Trichet, at the time you took up office, did you think it conceivable that you would be dealing with such a serious crisis in the currency union? Jean-Claude Trichet: Even before the outbreak of the financial crisis, the ECB warned that it was highly likely that there would be major corrections in the financial markets. However, the fact that the crisis would call into question the whole economic and financial strategy of all developed economies was not quite so foreseeable. You have had to take harsh criticism of your crisis management from Germany. How disappointing is that for you? That reminds me of a Goethe quote: “Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.” The ECB must accept the criticism. The only thing that matters is that we are faithful to our primary mandate and take our decisions fully independently. It is about precisely that that increasing doubts are being expressed. Under your leadership, the ECB has lost its independence because it has financed hard-up euro area countries by printing money. This criticism is completely inaccurate. We are fiercely independent of governments and pressure groups. All our decisions are made fully independently by the 23 members of the ECB’s Governing Council.
For example, we will not entertain attempts at fishing for banking information and other spurious requests. As with all major international financial centres, customer confidentiality is a cardinal principle of our financial sector. It will only be lifted by a Singapore court order and only if the safeguards set out in the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act are met. These provisions do not shield criminal activities. Singapore will continue to participate actively in the fight against crime, money laundering and terrorist financing. Going forward, we will work to deepen the sharing of knowledge and practices with jurisdictions that approach us for assistance through training programmes. We believe that we can make contributions on economic and financial issues, particularly those pertaining to the region. For instance, our unique monetary policy framework has proved to be sufficiently robust and flexible to cope with shocks in the external environment. We are keen to share our experience through research papers, policy dialogues and seminars with developing countries which are experimenting with intermediate exchange rate regimes. IV. Conclusion  Let me conclude. I have outlined our priorities for the next five years. Our emphasis is on action. We must translate the seminar findings and conclusions into a set of practical initiatives and implement them. We must be prepared to take calculated risks and adapt as we go along. This will require not just hard work and dedication, but also a spirit of openness, inquiry and enterprise. I am confident that together we can achieve our goals for MAS and Singapore.