27  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  27  Chart 3: Literacy rates in Western Europe  Sources: OurWorldInData.org, based on Buringh and Van Zanden (2009) and Broadberry and O’Rourke (2010). Chart 4: Long-run UK GDP growth  Sources: Broadberry and Wallis (2017) and Bank calculations. 28  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  28  Chart 5: Expanding and contracting periods in UK GDP growth  Sources: Broadberry and Wallis (2017) and Bank calculations.
In addition, as part of their strategic reorientation, both big banks announced measures which will further enhance their resilience. For instance, both institutions are planning to further expand their loss-absorbing capital, to reduce their risks and, in particular, trim their balance sheets as well as to pursue a policy of dividend restraint. The National Bank welcomes the increase in the big banks’ resilience achieved thus far, as well as the announced measures to further improve their capital situation. The consistent  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  implementation of these measures is important for two reasons: First, leverage has remained high despite the improvement in the capital situation. Second, the risks in the environment – and thus the associated potential losses for the big banks in the event of a further escalation of the European debt crisis – remain considerable. Situation at domestically focused banks I would now like to turn to the situation at domestically focused banks. The risks associated with the environment in which these banks operate increased during the past six months. Indeed, the isolated signs of a slowdown of growth in the mortgage and real estate markets observed in the second quarter did not materialise in the third quarter. In particular, prices in the different segments of the residential real estate market continued to rise at a sustained pace. At the same time, growth in the mortgage loan volume was still considerably higher than GDP growth. Imbalances have therefore grown.