This was how I felt, anyway, when I turned 50 last year, although others may scoff if they like. On the other hand, institutions like central banks are not mortal individuals with a limited lifespan, and for them, birthdays and anniversaries are cairns marking a path with no obvious endpoint – a path that must point to the future, and to progress. The past only has meaning insofar as it illuminates the road to the future. The inflation target that we observe now is a function of much more than merely keeping inflation at bay. The policy centres on setting the right ground rules between democratically elected representatives, on the one hand, and experts or officials, on the other. And it rests on the foundations of a simple division of labour: elected representatives define monetary policy objectives, and the Central Bank has the independent power to execute policy in the pursuit of those objectives. In this context, the Central Bank can be viewed as an independent contractor engaged by the people of Iceland. The ground rules of inflation targeting have proven to be good ones for democratic countries, as inflation targeting demands transparency and public accountability, in line with the precepts governing an open society. Yes, inflation-targeting central banks work on a public stage and must be able to participate in public discourse in a dedicated and resolute way. In the final analysis, each is judged according to their actions.
That is the primary aim of this morning’s symposium, bringing together the scientific committees of both the ACP and the AMF who play a key advisory role in each of our  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  institutions and who clearly work in areas of common interest. It is organised around the following specific themes that I would like to introduce with a few words. I.  Firstly, in a difficult context, French households have altered their investment choices: what are the consequences of this alteration? Already high before the crisis, the savings rate of French households has further increased, reaching levels close to those recorded at the start of the 1980s. This increase in the savings rate seems to reflect a precautionary attitude on the part of households. The year 2011 was also characterised by a significant reallocation of assets between the various savings options. Alongside a substantial withdrawal from UCITS and a fall in net new money flowing into life insurance contracts – a movement that has nevertheless slowed since the beginning of 2012 – bank savings products have posted a significant rise in deposits. Savers clearly decided to place their money in more liquid and less risky banking products such as passbooks to the detriment of long-term investments, despite the need for the latter to cover certain requirements for both households and the economy.