In particular, their application should not entail a shift of the riskiest activities to the shadow banking system. In sum, before introducing new structural measures, their costs and benefits should be evaluated from a global perspective, bearing in mind progress in other areas of regulatory reform, especially those concerning new resolution frameworks and the treatment of systemic banks. In any event, it seems reasonable to observe the principle that regulation should impose stricter requirements on the riskiest activities. A clear distinction should be drawn between banks whose trading volume is relatively small and geared chiefly to providing services to their customers, and those other banks with a more marked risk profile. Strengthening of and convergence in accounting standards The last issue I wished to address concerns accounting rules. In April 2009, the G20 called on the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to adopt measures to strengthen and more closely align their respective standards. As a result, the treatment of business combinations and the consolidation of financial statements have been reviewed, with particular emphasis on the specific features of special-purpose vehicles. Work has also been done on defining fair value and on the criteria to be taken into account in its determination. However, accounting standards-setters have not yet reached agreement on the treatment of impaired financial assets (through credit risk provisions, as they are traditionally called).
As Fehrenbach puts it, the key to overcoming the odds in the Lone Star State has been that “the Texas ethic and Texas society rewarded enterprise,” ... “work was the real virtue.” … “We chose this land; we took it; we made it bear fruit.” We are a people, in Fehrenbach’s words, for whom “the cult of courage was obvious.”1 And he distills the Texas spirit that prevails to this day in one sentence: Here, “men who exist get overrun by men who act.”2 It is time for our great Latino population to have the courage to face the facts: They must do a better job as families and within their communities to dedicate themselves to educational achievement. And it is time for all Texans, Hispanics and non-Hispanics, to act to create the conditions that will safeguard and nourish the prosperity of all our children and that of our children’s children. ¡Ándale pues! Delve into the Hispanic experience. Help us understand through this conference and your various studies how to advance Hispanic prosperity. For in doing so, you are helping us advance Texas and the nation. Thank you. 1  Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, by T.R. Fehrenbach, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1985, pp. 708–12. 2  See note 1, p. 717. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches