It was against this background that we announced the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs). Like all our monetary policy measures, it has served to ensure compliance with our price stability mandate as provided for in the Treaty. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  And it builds on an established monetary policy doctrine that has gained prominence not least because it has been successfully pursued by the Bundesbank for several decades. Namely that the central bank should be endowed with a clear price stability mandate and, within this mandate, should be allowed – in fact obliged – to use its instruments in full independence to deliver price stability. Combining a clear mandate with strong independence in pursuing that mandate is particularly important when conducting a single monetary policy in EMU, which consists of 18 countries with heterogeneous economic structures and institutional landscapes. On the one hand, it allows us to flexibly tailor our policy measures to the specific monetary policy challenges that may arise in this multi-country context – most notably to tackle the financial fragmentation that has hampered monetary policy transmission during the crisis. On the other hand, it establishes a stable anchor for inflation expectations through our price stability objective. This approach of “constrained discretion” is what made the track record of the Bundesbank and then the ECB so successful. And this approach is further validated by the strong progress towards restoring the singleness of the euro area’s monetary policy observed since the announcement of the OMTs.
In particular, I would like to recognise the pivotal role played by the Asian Institute of Finance, the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers, and the heads of the affiliate institutions, for their commitment and dedication in taking this ACE project forward as part of key infrastructure in skills and professional development and standards in the financial services industry. It is a significant milestone in transforming the financial education landscape for the financial services industry. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches