The CPIX will be phased out of our reports and our communication in general. This will not have a tangible effect on the actual interest rate decisions in the future. However, we hope that this change will make the way we conduct our monetary policy clearer.
In total, in the savings bank sector, there are 13 mergers taking place which affect 94% of assets and will reduce the total number of savings banks or groups of savings banks from 45 to 17. The reform of the legal framework for savings banks, approved on 9 July 2010, has three objectives: first, to facilitate the issuance of top-quality capital; second, to contribute to promoting more professional management and governing bodies; and third, to enhance market discipline. In order to facilitate access to capital markets, the reform sets out two possibilities. First, it provides for the issuance of equity units with voting rights. Second, particularly for those institutions with a business vocation which takes them beyond their traditional markets and businesses, three options are available. The first option is to join an Institutional Protection System (IPS) under the centralised coordination of a commercial bank. The second option is the transfer of the whole loan and deposit business to a commercial bank controlled by the savings bank. And the third option is the conversion of the savings bank into a foundation which manages welfare projects. This foundation is supported by the income from its assets, most notably dividends from the shares of the bank to which it transferred its financial business in exchange for the shareholding. The goal of making the savings banks more professional is to reduce the maximum weight of public-sector stakeholders and to establish a regime regulating incompatibility.