35 The economic policy choices made by the authorities and Norges Bank as manager of the Government Pension Fund Global must have legitimacy and credibility. Without long-term thinking, the management of our wealth will not be a success story. So far, it would seem that we have managed to mix and drink an adequate dose of Felix Felicis, but we must not let down our guard. Thank you for your attention. 33  See for example the obituary “Gunter Sachs”, in The Telegraph, 9 May 2011: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ news/obituaries/8503379/Gunter-Sachs.html  34  Sigurd Høst (1936): Norges historie: med viktigere avsnitt av Danmarks og Sveriges historie. For middelskoler og ungdomsskole [History of Norway], in Norwegian only, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo. 35  J. K. Rowling (2006): Harry Potter and the half-blood prince, London : Bloomsbury. 10  BIS central bankers’ speeches
All this will make for an interesting November round where, as I indicated earlier, we will look carefully at all the data, making our decision firmly in the light of the inflation target we have been set. Maintaining financial stability Having discussed monetary policy, I now want to turn to the other key role of the Bank of England - that of maintaining stability in the overall financial system. This does not, of course, mean that we  BIS Review 87/2001  3  supervise individual banks, building societies and investment firms. Since 1997, that role has been carried out by the FSA. The Bank, by contrast, is responsible for providing analysis of potential threats to the system as whole. We are responsible for financial system infrastructure, in particular payments systems. And, in exceptional circumstances, we would be responsible for undertaking official support operations to prevent difficulties in one institution affecting other parts of the financial system. Of course, we cannot do these jobs in isolation. Co-ordinating our system wide perspective with the FSA's daily supervisory responsibilities and the Treasury's legislative role is essential to the smooth functioning of the arrangements. A Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the Bank, the FSA and the Treasury in October 1997, sets out our respective responsibilities, both in 'normal' times, and in a crisis. And we work hard to foster these relationships, helped by the fact that I am a member of the FSA Board and Howard Davies is a non-executive director of the Bank.