Along the way of trying to solve different policy problems transparency and openness have been important features to us and helped us to increase credibility for our actions. The clearer the principles and rules are that guide policy, also in the financial stability area, the better. Given the complexity of European policymaking and the many different national aspects involved I think that the arguments for this clear framework and for rules are even stronger on a European level although perhaps more difficult to obtain. BIS Review 85/2000  4
Banks, like other companies, need to discover what will or will not work in the internet world. They are thus exposed to their own mistakes. But they are also exposed to the potential mistakes of their customers. For example, if the telecom companies in Europe really have taken too big a gamble on 3G, this would have repercussions for the banks that have financed them. These challenges are also confronting banks in Asia as they recover from the hangover of the Asian crisis. I do not think that bankers anywhere would ever claim that they have an easy life. But certainly the existence for banks in Asia before the crisis was easier than it is now. If I take Hong Kong as an example, the banks here have always competed actively. But that competition was taking place in a buoyant market, whereas business is currently much harder to find. A few simple statistics illustrate the point: in the six years from 1992 to 1997, domestic lending by the locally incorporated banks grew at an average rate of 21% per annum, and pre-tax profits rose at an annual rate of 15% during the same period. In contrast, the equivalent annual figures for the three years to mid-2000 were 1¼% and 4½% respectively. It is true that bank profits staged a sharp recovery in the first half of this year. But growth in bank lending has remained sluggish.