•  Equality, which is translated into a fair and equalitarian treatment to all minority groups, either of capital or of other stakeholders, where discriminating policies or attitudes shall be deemed unacceptable. 8. Based on the foregoing principles, the Central Bank, in its supervising role, follows the best international practices, materialized in the standards defined by the Basle Committee of the Bank for International Settlements, according to which corporate governance represents a critical issue in the banking environment. Management shall monitor the establishment of corporate objectives, performance of the day-byday operations, defense of stakeholder interests, conformity to applicable laws and regulations, and care for the interests of depositors. 9. Therefore, the directive applied by the Central Bank reaches beyond the mere relationship of the institution with external stakeholders or the concern with the truthfulness of its financial statements, since it considers all aspects related to the institution’s management and to its internal control systems. 10. In fact, the key to secure efficacy in governing financial institutions necessarily implies an effort to build an effective system of internal controls, able to support stability and continuity of individual activities and, consequently, the systemic stability of the financial system itself. 11. Ladies and gentlemen, I referred above to the fact that Brazil faces more challenges to consolidate good governance in corporate practices compared to more mature economies.
As a final message, I would like to underline that monetary and institutional stability and the effort, not only of the Central Bank, but also of other regulatory agencies, including the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission), the Superintendence of Private Insurance (Susep) and the Complementary Pension Secretariat, and initiatives from market institutions, such as the Novo Mercado implemented by the São Paulo Stock Exchange, in addition to our growing corporate maturity in an increasingly globalized world, enabled us to make significant advances in recent years towards best governance practices, gradually converging to the standards of more advanced economies. There is no doubt that we shall continue to make more and permanent advances, and this is our goal. 2  BIS Review 117/2008