So you’ve turned the world upside down topsy-turvy and today we are seeing India along with other big emerging markets who are effectively lending money to the United States of America by buying their Treasuries and funding their development. So these three stands I think have to be taken into account because they are really new elements of the international financial architecture which have a bearing on how the global economy is going to perform. So what do we see today in the global economy that is different apart from what I just mentioned. First of all you have a liquidity trap. Keynes’s classic liquidity trap is alive and kicking around us. Whatever you do with interest rates it doesn’t care at all for production or for consumption because we have too much liquidity, the 8 trillion that I talked about. In that context how do governments stimulate their economies given that monetary policy has done the heavy lifting, it created this excess liquidity but now going forward there is a need for a new element, the Xfactor, which has to then propel the growth forward. You have very influential commentators like Larry Summers of United States who is calling for another round of quantitative easing in the US because he feels that the long term growth path of the United States economy is still not well embedded and the reason for that is partly due to the demographics.
Conclusion With just a few months before the launch of SEPA, banks are making preparations in order to be ready. I have been closely enough involved to see the tremendous efforts made by the banking industry, and I expect that the vast majority of banks will be operationally ready for SEPA. Operational readiness is, however, not enough. Indeed, SEPA is the next step of the euro. January 2008 will only be the start of this process. SEPA will enhance pan-European competition and foster integration, consolidation and innovation. SEPA requires us to take a broad view that goes beyond operational readiness. In the coming months, we need to go the extra mile and make an additional effort to ensure the readiness of customers and the card payments market. We also need to think about the next steps. And there are, indeed, important further steps in this process. Creative solutions will pay off! Some years ago SEPA was an idea. In 70 days, SEPA will be reality. I wish you an open and fruitful conference. Thank you for your attention. BIS Review 134/2007  5