his help in writing this text, elizabeth nilsson for translating it into english, goran katinic for help with the slides and bjorn andersson, gina bayoumi, claes berg, charlotta edler, gabriela guibourg, marianne nessen, marianne sterner and anders vredin for their valuable comments. 1 another completely fresh example is the riksbank ’ s thoughts on introducing a digital currency ( see skingsley, 2016 ). 1 which only a few other central banks have done so far. 2 the long period of low inflation has also started a debate regarding the grounds for the riksbank ’ s monetary policy and the inflation target, which as far as i can tell is more intense than in most other countries. in this sense, too, one can therefore in some ways say that we are pioneers. what i intend to do today is first to say a few words about this debate. most often, the criticism merely states that the “ monetary policy of the riksbank is wrong ”. the reasons for this vary : because a negative policy rate is not healthy, because housing prices are rising, because the krona is too weak or because the economy is already developing well. there is usually no detailed reasoning as to what the consequences would be if the policy was shifted in another direction. in particular, what is often missing, but i argue is crucial, is a discussion on why the advantages of the inflation target should no longer apply and what the consequences would be if the riksbank abandoned it. after discussing the debate on monetary policy, i intend to conclude by looking ahead and examining the problems and possibilities for monetary policy in the future. here, i focus in particular on a scenario where monetary policy is not made more expansionary despite a delay in reaching the inflation target. in sweden, the policy rate has been negative since february 2015. this has not been an uncontroversial policy. the criticism can be divided into two types. these are often expressed simultaneously and are difficult to distinguish from one another, but i think there is a point in trying to keep the arguments separate. one sort of criticism is that a negative policy rate in itself is something unnatural and unhealthy. the other is that a negative policy rate is the wrong policy in the current economic situation. let me discuss these arguments one at a time. negative policy rate unnatural and unhealthy in itself? one can dispute whether a negative policy rate is unnatural and unhea

##sf principles for sound compensation practices, also published this month, will align compensation - related incentives with the long - term profitability of firms. these efforts will help us to avoid similar crises in the future. but the policy agenda is not complete and we must sustain momentum to continue to develop and implement strong regulatory, supervisory and other policies in the interest of financial stability. indeed, work has not stopped since the london summit. for instance, there is a substantial work programme underway in the basel committee on banking supervision on capital and procyclicality, and we are setting in train work with the bank for international settlements ( bis ) on macroprudential tools. in addition, three areas in which critical work is taking place are ( i ) accounting and valuation, ( ii ) hedge funds, and ( iii ) other systemically relevant entities and products. on accounting issues, the london summit welcomed the recommendations of the fsf ’ s procyclicality report, and g20 leaders called for “ accounting standard setters to work urgently with supervisors and regulators to improve standards on valuation and provisioning and achieve a single set of high - quality global accounting standards. ” in this respect, • the international accounting standards board ( iasb ) decided this week to adopt approaches consistent with the recent guidance on fair value for illiquid markets and fair value disclosure from the us financial accounting standards board ( fasb ). while the iasb decided not to implement the fasb staff ’ s approach to credit loss impairment for available - for - sale debt securities, it did decide to work with the fasb to issue this year a converged proposal to dramatically simplify their standards for financial instruments, which is expected to include a common credit loss impairment approach for loans and debt securities. • the iasb - fasb financial crisis advisory group has called on both standard setters to work with the fsb and the basel committee to address the provisioning and valuation recommendations of the fsb and the g20. a working group to be run by the basel committee is being established to develop positions. on hedge funds, the fsb has been tasked with working with national authorities to develop and implement coherent approaches to regulation and oversight of hedge fund managers. we will also be working with iosco to develop mechanisms for cooperation and information sharing between relevant authorities on hedge fund exposures. • iosco, along with a number of national authorities, is reviewing its approach to oversight of hedge funds. iosco released a consultative document