The result was that the krona was devalued several times from the mid-1970s onwards. The economy underwent "boom-bust-cycles” with alternate sudden braking and strong stimulus for acceleration. This policy had devastating effects on many aspects of economic developments. Sweden lost ground in terms of prosperity, while growth in real wages was largely non-existent. This situation finally become untenable and after the fixed exchange rate system was abandoned in November 1992 there was a clear shift in stabilisation policy regime. When one looks back over the period since then, I believe that most people will agree with me that the new regime has been successful. Sweden is no longer afflicted with excessively high inflationary trends, recurring cost crises and high interest rates. The more stable environment has contributed to better growth in prosperity. The new regulations have also created other, better frameworks for wage formation, a point often emphasised by LO representatives. Trade union organisation no longer need to play along in a destructive game where high nominal wage increases are eaten up by inflation and real wage increases prove to be a disappointment year after year. The fact that inflation has been lower and more stable during the period with inflation-targeting policy is a good result, although perhaps not surprising. What may have received less attention and been less evident, given the theories in this field, is that there has been less fluctuation in the real economy.

Moreover, it reduces the costs for triparty repos related to collateral management, settlement and legal charges, and allows trading to be executed regardless of the location of the collateral. Non-discriminatory, risk-based access to and by market infrastructures is an important element of the new international regulatory framework. With market participants increasingly moving to central clearing, the business  15  Triparty interoperability is especially relevant for standard interbank operations/repos, which are cleared at CCPs and where CCPs use standardised baskets of eligible collateral (also referred to as general collateral (GC) baskets). 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  case for triparty interoperability is growing. Furthermore, the new CPSS-IOSCO principles for financial market infrastructures were specifically strengthened to facilitate access and interaction between such infrastructures. Some of the key parties involved in this triparty settlement interoperability initiative have started to show signs of retreating in past months. While the ECB understands the complexity of establishing a triparty interoperability model and the substantial efforts and in particular the investment costs required to make it work, it would like to strongly urge all parties to continue to work together. Interoperability will bring important benefits – by allowing a more efficient use of collateral by bringing together separate pools of liquidity. The ECB remains ready to continue to support the triparty settlement interoperability initiative and to help bring the project forward. Concluding remarks Let me conclude. The resilience and proper functioning of market infrastructures is of paramount importance to ensure well-functioning money markets.