With these measures, one needs to take into consideration the fiscal support through a broad range of Page | 4 Document Classification: Public  government measures aimed at helping households and businesses, which also indirectly sustain the banks by mitigating the effects of the crisis on bank balance sheets. The negative implications from the pandemic will continue to be felt in the near term and this is why the Central Bank encourages all financial institutions to preserve capital, while at the same time continue to lend prudently and avoid unnecessary forbearance measures. I will repeat: the banks are sufficiently liquid, with strong capital ratios and financial resources, and these, coupled with their technological infrastructure and human resources, is enabling them to meet the challenges that the pandemic presents. To conclude, although the pandemic has been around with us for some nine months, the uncertainties surrounding it are still high, although recent news of the rollout of a vaccine in the very near future have surely given hope that we are closer to the end of the pandemic. Nevertheless, its effects will not go away any time soon, and 2021 will be a challenging year, both from an economic perspective and for the banking sector. Therefore, both fiscal and monetary authorities will need to remain vigilant and monitor closely the situation to avoid untimely withdrawal of support measures. Finally allow me a footnote. I would have welcomed this opportunity to say something about Brexit.
For this reason, parallel to decisions adopted with respect to internal management and the promotion of a risk-awareness culture, we continued to work on strengths already present in key areas of the Bank, namely the Research, Financial Policy and Financial Operations Division. In this sense, it is good to recall the whole process of reorganization introduced by the Board to improve the Bank’s efficiency, taking advantage of economies of scope and reducing transaction costs. Our policy of transparency and diffusion crystallized in the creation of a Department of Communications, that later evolved into a Department of Institutional Affairs and a Department of Communications Advise, with the purpose of providing an organized structure to all the information that stems from the Central Bank of Chile and that is intended to emphasize equity and depth in the delivery of information, as well as to give the Chilean people a boost in their knowledge of economic matters. Regarding internal management, we have perfected a human resources selection mechanism through external head hunting firms for managerial posts, and open, informed contests published on the website for other job positions. We have made great progress in our job appraisal policies, compensation structures to every employee and the setting of clear, measurable goals for levels 7 and up of the organizational chart. Along the same lines, we have recently approved new labor policies oriented at integral development, in order to contribute to the institution’s increased efficiency in achieving its goals and the personal fulfillment of the people who work in the institution.