APP The significant stock of assets purchased through the APP and the subsequent reinvestments once net purchases ended in December 2018 have been providing substantial monetary 6 / 19  BIS central bankers' speeches  accommodation to the euro area. My colleague Benoît Cœuré recently provided a thorough assessment and Chart 4 and Chart 5 illustrate the contribution of the APP to the easing of financial conditions through the reduction of yields.6 According to those estimates, after the last recalibration of the APP in June 2018, the ten-year bond yield would have been around 95 basis points higher in the absence of the APP. Moreover, this impact is quite persistent. Asset purchases work through a variety of mechanisms. Of particular importance is the duration channel. By absorbing duration risk from the market, investors require less risk compensation, which pushes down term premia and yields. The duration channel is complemented by the signalling channel through which asset purchases can affect the expected path of short-term policy rates.7 Importantly, the bonds we have purchased will remain on our balance sheet for a long time and we continue to reinvest maturing principals (Chart 4). A meaningful stock effect will therefore continue to prevail and will exert substantial downward pressure on yields (Chart 5), particularly at the longer end of the curve.
Mr Chairman, I am informed that one of the notable projects being undertaken collaboratively is on ICT Governance implementation within the central banks using the Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies (COBIT) framework. BIS Review 42/2008  1  Ladies and Gentlemen, you will be delighted to learn that just last week a number of board members from central banks in Africa and across the world converged here in Livingstone to discuss the subject “Trends in Central Bank Governance”. Indeed good corporate governance is generally acknowledged as important in economic management and therefore, the role that ICT Governance plays, in this regard, can not be over emphasized. I am also informed that this conference will discuss some of the solutions available for implementing Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and the progress so far made in this regard. Indeed business continuity planning and management for ICT resources is critical to the operations of our Central Banks. The level of investment and dependence on ICT services is significant and few organizations could operate for long today without these resources. I therefore urge you to critically review this area that is equally important to the implementation of good corporate governance. Mr Chairman, allow me also to talk about financial inclusion or access to finance for all. Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are aware most of our rural areas are mostly unbanked due to infrastructural obstacles.