We introduced this concept exactly three years ago. You are acquainted with the main elements: definition of price stability, inflation forecast as main indicator and target range for the three-month Libor rate as operational target. Overall, our experience with our monetary policy concept has been good. Recently, this experience was discussed at an internal conference. Since the new concept was adopted, we have widened the basis of our monetary policy decisions and further developed our analysis of indicators and models. The more extensive use of relevant information enabled us to react more swiftly and with more foresight than formerly to changes in the economic situation. Our monetary policy concept met with a positive public reception in Switzerland. The same applies to the financial markets and international organisations such as the IMF and the OECD. The concept has vastly improved transparency. By publishing studies on internal decision-making processes and the forecasting models used, we have made further relevant information accessible. The public is thus in a better position to understand the reasoning behind monetary policy decisions. 2  BIS Review 73/2002  So far, we have published our inflation forecasts regularly in June and December. We should like to take this a step further and will in future publish an updated inflation forecast after every quarterly assessment of the situation. This will further help to improve transparency. From 2003 onwards, we will also inform the public of our monetary policy by publishing new inflation forecasts in March and September.
Vítor Constâncio: The nature and significance of Banking Union Speech by Mr Vítor Constâncio, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, at the conference “Financial regulation – towards a global regulatory framework?”, Chatham House City Series, London, 11 March 2013. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for inviting me to speak to you at Chatham House today. The topic of my address is the nature and significance of establishing a Banking Union in Europe. To many this seems like a new initiative borne out of the experience of the crisis. But it is in fact based on an older debate. During the preparations for the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s, there was already the strong conviction that a single system of banking supervision was as a key element in the construction of monetary union. Indeed, one of the foremost proponents of this view was a Bank of England official, Brian Quinn, who chaired the preparatory subcommittee on banking supervision.1 This conviction was based on the relatively logical observation that the single currency would deepen financial interdependence in Europe and so require an integrated system of supervision. It was also in line with the prevailing model at the time of banking supervision being entrusted to the central bank.