Birgir Ísleifur Gunnarsson: Iceland in a global setting Keynote speech by Mr Birgir Ísleifur Gunnarsson, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Iceland, at the Euromoney conference on the Nordic Financial Markets and Investment Opportunities, Stockholm, 13 September 2002. *  *  *  Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to participate in this ambitious conference on the Nordic Financial Markets and Investment Opportunities. I will in my remarks today mainly focus on aspects relating to Iceland. Size separates Iceland from the other Nordic Countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Other factors separate the Nordic Countries as well. Finland is a member of the European Union and the Economic and Monetary Union, EMU, as well. Denmark and Sweden are members of the European Union but are outside the EMU. Norway and Iceland are outside the European Union but maintain very close ties to it, particularly through the European Economic Area Agreement. That agreement makes Norway and Iceland a part of the single market of the European Union, which entails among other things that they are obliged to maintain financial market legislation, which fully conforms to that of the European Union. The Nordic Countries have different monetary regimes. Finland is a member of the EMU, Denmark is linked to the EMU through an ERM II agreement entailing that the Danish krona is very closely tied to the euro. Sweden, Norway and Iceland have chosen an inflation-targeting regime as their monetary framework (Iceland in March 2001).
Between now and the 15 November, the Bank will therefore be running a consultation programme that will provide the public with a greater familiarity with polymer banknotes. The consultation will, in turn, provide us with a better understanding of the public’s views on the proposed change and whether such a change would meet with broad public acceptance. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  We will be holding around 50 events across the UK to enable the public to see and feel examples of polymer notes, and to deliver feedback to the Bank. We will hold events in 13 major shopping centres to allow shoppers to see and handle specimen notes. And we will be running over 30 discussion events with audiences including regional chambers of commerce and retailers. A market research company will separately be conducting another 36 focus groups and carrying out a face-to-face survey with 2,000 people to collect further feedback. We will also publish a range of useful material on our website including a facility for the public to provide feedback directly to us. And there will be a specific display about polymer in the Bank’s museum for anyone visiting London who wishes to learn more. In parallel with the public consultation we will conduct further outreach with the cash handling industry, to confirm our understanding of the impact on industry of a switch to polymer.