With this in mind, a further strengthening of the capital situation and – in conjunction with this – a further realignment of the business model in order to achieve sustainable profitability, are still central challenges facing the big banks. The profitability and the capital situation of the banks with a domestic business focus – the cantonal, regional and Raiffeisen banks – were significantly higher in 2009 than the longterm average. The dip in GDP from mid-2008 to mid-2009 has so far barely had any effect on these banks, with the result that the provisioning requirement for credit risk continued at a low level in 2009. Nevertheless, in our estimation, the position of these bank categories is less comfortable than may appear at first glance. First of all, the capital situation of the Raiffeisen banks and the state-guaranteed cantonal banks needs to be put into perspective: the Raiffeisen banks can count the additional funding obligation required of members in the  BIS Review 85/2010  1  cooperative as capital until the end of 2011, and the cantonal banks are entitled to a reduction in required capital due to the state guarantee. In the absence of these concessions, the capital ratios – particularly for the Raiffeisen banks – would be markedly lower. Second, according to our assessment, the risk exposure of the domestically focused banks is higher now than it was in 2009. For one thing, the interest rate risk of cantonal and Raiffeisen banks is at historically high levels.
Inflation expectations  Inflation expectations cannot be observed directly, but approximate measures can be derived indirectly in three different ways: asking a sample of consumers, surveying professional forecasters and extracting information from financial markets. Let me elaborate. The European Commission conducts a poll every month in which it seeks consumers’ opinions on inflation developments in the euro area, in particular their perceptions of current inflation developments and their expectations for the next 12 months. These two measures are plotted in Chart 10, together with actual inflation. Consumers’ expectations have declined strongly in recent months, reaching a record low in May (the survey started in 1985). Most respondents thought that prices would either remain unchanged or fall in the next 12 months. But this is not really the same as expecting deflation. The second way of measuring inflation expectations is via the ECB’s Survey of Professional Forecasters. It suggests that most respondents regard deflation as unlikely. In the second quarter of 2009, none of the 50 participants reported a negative point estimate for 2009, and two participants reported a point estimate below zero for 2010. Together with point estimates, participants are also asked to assess the likelihood of future inflation falling within given ranges. Averaging the individual responses provides a summary of their assessment. As Chart 11 shows, in the most recent survey, respondents assigned an overall 18% probability that annual inflation will be negative in 2009 (left side of the chart), which is significantly higher than in previous rounds.