Maja Kadievska-Vojnovik: Rules and regulation update Speech by Ms Maja Kadievska-Vojnovik, Vice-Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, at the Erste Group Bank workshop “Rules and regulation update”, Skopje, 1 December 2014. *  *  *  Dear Governor Bogov, Dear Guest Speakers from Erste Group Bank, Dear representatives from financial regulatory agencies, Dear colleagues, Please, let me thank you Governor Bogov for supporting the idea of organizing such an event that summarizes financial regulatory reform after six years of the global financial crisis and also I would like to give my appreciation to the guest lecturers from Erste Group Bank for their quick response to help us to better understand it. This workshop is distinctive, in my opinion, as it will point at numerous regulatory changes aimed at supporting the vision of a financial system that would be both globally integrated and adequately regulated over the medium-to-long-term. Why we are here today? Probably, some of you have already asked this question. Why? The subject and the presentations of today’s workshop are of great importance, having in mind that, we, the Central Bank with its unique foreign reserves management function, and other institutional investors (banks, pension funds, insurance companies) that are supervised by the regulators participating in this workshop, all of us, are investors on the European and global financial markets. In that regard, understanding of the regulations that are changing the financial markets landscape is of greatest significance for each market participant.
Øystein Olsen: Monetary policy and financial stability considerations Speech by Mr Øystein Olsen, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the European Banking & Financial Forum, Prague, 27 March 2012. *  *  *  The text below may differ from the actual presentation. This speech does not contain assessments of the current economic situation or interest rate setting. Introduction The past few years have clearly shown the costs of financial instability. The near collapse of the financial system in autumn 2008 led to the most severe economic downturn of our time. There was a dramatic decline in international trade, and total world output fell from one year to the next for the first time in generations. When financial markets failed, the authorities had to intervene. Bailout packages for banks shifted debt from private to public hands. Governments increased spending in order to curb the fall in activity. Many countries are now trying to rein in large deficits and rising government debt under difficult conditions. Pension rules and tax systems are under review. The costs of such structural reforms would have been lower in good times. A financial crisis has to be met with appropriate measures, but the main objective in our work on financial stability must be to reduce the risk of crises emerging. History tells us that a financial crisis typically arises when debt has accumulated over a long period. An important task is therefore to contain the buildup of imbalances and secure a robust financial system.