In this regard, the fiscal policy adjustments are important, also to obtain external financing to support the balance of payments. The NBRM, with the decision made today, for interest rate increase on the CB bills, is making an additional step towards reducing the external imbalance, and for achieving the interim and final objective of the monetary policy, remaining prepared to futher undertake additional measures, if necessary. V.  In the end, one more information. Today, the Council of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia held its 3rd session this year. Among other issues, on this session, the Council has adopted the 2008 Annual Report of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia; the 2008 Annual Report on Managing Foreign Reserves; the 2008 Internal Audit Report. All these documents shall be available on our web site in the following days. BIS Review 60/2009  5
The kick-off meetings, which have been taking place since early summer between the current supervisors, the ECB and the banks, are simply a first step. In this connection, allow me to stress the inherent dangers in supervision not only of being too far removed, but also of being too close. Other viewpoints and new supervisory approaches and methods may sharpen our perception and mitigate the danger of accepting a bank’s unjustified customs merely because they have long been familiar to us. The comparisons and analyses I referred to earlier will also help to counter this danger. But that is not all. We will also address this issue in terms of our staffing policies. The head of a Joint Supervisory Team (JST) must come from a different country to the country in which the institution it is supervising is established. In concrete terms: the head supervisor for Deutsche Bank will be a French lady; BNP Paribas will be supervised by an Italian man. In addition, there will a rotation of staff members among the JSTs. All in all, this will not only enable us to reach more objective judgements about a bank, but will also foster the development of a common supervisory culture. Banking supervision in a central bank Allow me to say a few words about banking supervision in a central bank. Housing the SSM within the ECB will enable us to benefit from synergy effects.