The use of permanent on-site supervision, the link between off-site supervision and on-site inspections or the powers of the supervisory authority (if any) in relation to accounting regulations, are simply some examples. Differences between national supervisors also exist regarding the availability of data. To give you an example, Central Credit Registers – which in our experience are a highly valuable source of information for prudential supervision purposes – are not yet available in all jurisdictions. The EBA has played a very important role by improving cooperation between national supervisors and promoting supervisory convergence. But these improvements fall short of the needs of an effectively unified supervisory system. Substantial and swift progress in this field is therefore needed. Let me just finish by making a general comment. It is obvious that the creation of a banking union poses enormous challenges for Europe that will require strong political support and effective cooperation among all authorities involved. The good news is that if we look at the process of European integration from a historical perspective, we realise that this is not the first time that the way forward has been highly complex. And, past experience has regularly shown that the response has always been to deepen integration and increase the transfer of national powers to the Union as the best – and possibly only – way to preserve all the achievements made so far. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
Thomas Jordan: Swiss monetary policy and provisions Introductory remarks by Mr Thomas Jordan, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the end-of-year media news conference, Zurich, 10 December 2009. *  *  *  Introduction Tension in the global financial markets began to abate this spring, and has continued to do so ever since – though despite all the talk of recovery, they are still far below their pre-crisis levels. Whereas initial price rises were mostly corrections of previous excessive falls, markets are currently being driven mainly by the improving economic outlook, by companies’ predominantly positive earnings reports and by expansionary monetary and fiscal policies. However, there is still considerable uncertainty in the financial markets. In the course of the crisis the Swiss National Bank aggressively relaxed its monetary restraints, sometimes treading new paths in the implementation of monetary policy. I shall now briefly summarise the instruments that we used in connection with the financial crisis, highlighting their effects on the SNB’s balance sheet. The risks that exist in the SNB’s balance sheet or that the SNB could potentially be required to take onto the balance sheet demonstrate the importance of strengthening our equity capital. I shall therefore, as already indicated by the Chairman of the Governing Board, Jean-Pierre Roth, briefly explain to you the new regulations governing our policy on provisions. One of these monetary policy crisis measures is the SNB’s stabilisation fund (StabFund), which I shall deal with later.