Within the Bank, the Financial Stability Committee occupies a similar position in relation to financial stability as the MPC does for monetary stability. Bank staff present papers to the Financial Stability Committee evaluating the overall conjunctural position and reviewing issues of specific concern. The staff assessment of financial stability is shared with the Treasury and FSA and discussed with them in the Standing Committee, set up under the MoU, that meets each month to monitor financial stability and to consider issues of common concern. The objective is to identify sources of instability before problems emerge, to be in a position to take preventative action or to respond quickly in the event of trouble. The Bank sets out to articulate publicly its financial stability role and to communicate current concerns by the publication semi-annually of the Financial Stability Review. Each edition includes an overview of financial stability providing an assessment of current threats to the system, ranging from imbalances  1  BIS Review 70/2000  in the major industrialised economies or debt structures in EMEs, to sectoral issues such as equity market volatility or gearing in the telecoms industry. While other commentators may talk of economic miracles, you can rely on central banks to find disaster waiting in the wings! But if surveillance feeds off central bankers’ capacity to worry, then crisis prevention and crisis resolution, working on rules to minimise the risk or the cost of a financial crisis, may be the only prospect for us to get a decent night’s sleep.
But the official sector could possibly mitigate their cost by establishing a coherent framework for crisis management, with payment suspensions as one of the tools. None of this is at all to suggest that the issue of standstills - in or outside the Bank of England - is fully articulated and concluded. It is a difficult area requiring contributions from all sides and the  BIS Review 70/2000  8  intellectual argument is ongoing. Finding the right balance between rules and discretion, in this area as in so many, remains a key issue for policymakers. There is work to be done on the modalities of how standstills might operate in different crisis cases. What is the role of the IMF in the standstill process? Does the process need to be underpinned by statute or would non-statutory principles suffice? And when might a standstill require capital controls to guard against leakage? The Bank is currently working on some of these issues, practical and conceptual. I would encourage those among you with an interest in international public policy to help us in addressing them, joining the growing number of, in particular, US academics who are exploring this topic. It is very much a live debate and I have no doubt these issue will be discussed at length, at and around the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Prague later this month. Conclusion I have now talked myself - quite literally - to a standstill.