premiums, which would have rendered government borrowing that much more expensive. this expectation was not fulfilled, however. on the contrary, exceptional interest rate convergence even before monetary union enabled the previously high interest rate countries to borrow on exceptionally favourable terms. the fact that risk premiums for all countries of the monetary union contracted so heavily, receding in some cases to only a few basis points, is likely, among other things, to be attributable to investors ’ apparent doubts about the credibility of the exclusion of liability. in any event, most recent history has shown that the doubts about the no bail - out rule were not irrational. the fact is that the low interest rates caused a great deal of capital to flow into the euro - area periphery countries, which was not put to use in a very profitable manner. wage increases which outpace productivity growth put additional strains on the competitiveness of economies. on balance, public and / or private debt grew strongly while current accounts deteriorated. this was the breeding ground for the euro - area debt crisis, which began in 2010 following the global financial and economic crisis. the substantial increase in risk premiums for bonds of peripheral countries pushed several countries, in particular greece, to the brink of insolvency. in this crisis situation, the euro rescue packages and eurosystem measures prevented the crisis from escalating. however, these crisis measures permanently weakened the principle of individual responsibility. they caused a redistribution of risk and put elements of mutualised liability in place, disrupting the balance in the relationship between liability and control in the regulatory framework of monetary union : the set of options for controlling the member states ’ borrowing did not keep pace. one might argue that the fiscal rules were, in fact, tightened in the aftermath of the crisis – stability and growth pact, fiscal compact and european semester are concepts which come to mind. undoubtedly, these were steps in the right direction. but whether these tightened rules will have the desired binding effect remains to be seen. it is, above all, the european commission that is called upon to be strict in laying down the rules, and certain doubts are unfortunately justified. bis central bankers ’ speeches as we know, it is not the case that there haven ’ t been any rules in place thus far. however, they have been inadequately implemented. the deficit limit of 3 % of gdp has been breached seven times by germany, eight times by france and a whole of nine times by italy. according to the commission ’ s forecast

course, it is important that this industry, which is important to the economy ’ s development, is sustainable, transparent and adequately regulated. the series of drafted laws has passed the first reading in the state duma, and now there is serious work to be done in preparing them for the second reading. the most important of these is the introduction of a unified system for evaluating business reputation, management qualification requirements and requirements for the founders and owners of non - bank financial institutions. such requirements are already defined in the banking system, and it ’ s very important to increase the responsibility of the owners and management of financial organisations for their sustainability and good governance, and in our opinion it is very important to bring in similar norms for non - banking organisations too. another draft law currently in the duma, and now particularly important, aims to improve the effectivity of regulation in the fight with insider trading and market manipulation. at the moment our legislation lags behind global practices. we understand what an urgent topic this is, and in order to make our economy more attractive to investors there should of course be effective mechanisms in place to counter insider trading and market manipulation. the next important issue is the bill concerning a financial ombudsman for the rights of consumers of financial services. recently at the state council presidium there was discussion about rights protection for consumers of financial services, and, of course, a financial ombudsman could be one of the instruments used to increase the effectivity of consumers ’ rights protection. we propose to bring this in gradually. and here, too, i hope i can count on support for this project from the ministry of finance and the government and state duma as a whole. these bills are in the process of being finalised before submission to the state duma. firstly, for us it is important that a bill toughens liability for false statements in the financial sector. we are carrying out major work on improving the cyber resilience of financial organisations and combatting cyber attacks. so it is important for us, taking into account the benefits of digital technology development for the financial sphere, to provide an adequate level of security and protection from risks. therefore it is necessary to amend the law in order to establish legal requirements for the protection of financial organisations ’ information and to combat theft of their clients ’ funds. we are now working on drafting this bill, too. and also worthy of note is our work, together with the ministry of finance, on the initiative for the pension savings