For the moment, we are only at a preliminary stage, contemplating which tools a macro-prudential policy could be based on, and how these tools could be used. As regards supervision, this crisis has shown the merits of having the banking supervisor close to the central bank. The point is not to claim there is an optimal supervisory structure that fits any country’s circumstances. Rather, it is to note that a system such as the one we have in France has proved very useful in allowing for an in-depth knowledge of the banking sector and the various financial institutions. It also allowed for very swift and timely exchanges of information, and, as a result, allowed us at the central bank to quickly pass sensitive judgments, not least on the usefulness of injecting liquidity. Let me conclude by stressing what may seem obvious. We are going through very challenging times, in some respect even unprecedented times. In this context, policy making is also about confidence building and financial education. Thank you very much Ladies and Gentlemen. 4  BIS Review 9/2009
And back then, everyone agreed that the revised rulebook needed to be a global one. The crisis clearly demonstrated that banking is a global business, so the rules that govern it should also be global. Today, however, it is much less clear whether everyone still subscribes to the idea of a global rulebook. And this worries me. It worries me because it shows that people are starting to forget the lessons we learned from the crisis. That’s why we need to finalise the global rulebook, Basel III, as quickly as possible. But that is just the first step. The second step is to implement and apply the rules in a broadly consistent manner at regional and national level. And this is a challenge – sometimes we see quite a different interpretation of the standards when it comes to implementing and applying them at national level. You won’t be surprised that I will focus on the euro area. The euro area countries have become closely intertwined. For many years now they have shared a single market and a single currency. Since the crisis, they have even begun to build a banking union, which includes a single supervisor. But when it comes to regulation, we still see differences between countries. It is true, of course, that we have a single rulebook in Europe. As one might expect for a union, 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  we had to come further than other countries. However, parts of that rulebook come in the form of EU directives.