Macroeconomic policies in some areas have also shown deficiencies, in particular when they lacked a medium-term orientation towards sustainability. Looking ahead, we need to refine and broaden their oversight of the nexus between financial markets and the macro-economy. Financial risks and the increasing potential for these risks to become contagious and escalate to systemic proportions need to be better identified. At the level of national economies, efforts should be reinforced by measures to strengthen the structural engines of their economic systems. Far from putting off the agenda for structural reforms, the crisis has made them more urgent. I want to share with you my thoughts on reform along each of these three dimensions: the financial sphere, global governance, and the structural set-up of local economies. BIS Review 150/2009  3  Financial reform The ultimate goal of financial reform is clear: the financial sector will have to return to its role of providing the best possible service to the real economy. The fundamental role of financial markets is the intermediation of funds between savers and investors. During the recent past, this function has been expanded by increasing possibilities for diversification: diversification of risks for savers; diversification of funding sources for investors. For a long time, the demand for hedging against economic risk among entrepreneurs has grown in tandem with the growing supply of new and innovative financial techniques. But at some point supply outgrew demand. Financial innovation ceased to facilitate trade and real investment opportunities and started to become self-sustaining.

Gent Sejko: Build your future, be smart about money Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the opening ceremony of the Global Money Week 2022 "Build your future, be smart about money", Pristina, 24 March 2022. * * * Honourable Minister of Education and Sports, Dear Chairman of the Albanian Association of Banks, Dear students, teachers, friends and banker colleagues, I have the pleasure to welcome you to the launching ceremony of the Global Money Week 2022. For more than a decade this global awareness-raising campaign brings together pupils, students, teachers and bankers. Each March, the Bank of Albania in cooperation with the Albanian Association of Banks, and the outstanding support of the Ministry of Education and Sports, organises educational and awareness-raising activities tailored to different age groups of pupils and students. Last year, due to the difficult situation caused from the COVID-19 pandemic, the launching ceremony and all the programmed activities in the framework of the Global Money Week, took place virtually, in compliance with the social distancing protocol. Notwithstanding these circumstances, the programme was successfully accomplished. Meanwhile, this year, the physical presence of participants, makes our educational activities more productive. For this reason, I am very happy we are back to normality, and welcoming you, as traditionally, in our historic hall, the Bank of Albania’s Museum premises. The Albanian public and particularly, young people are familiar with the Global Money Week.