labour substantially. the sooner we start implementing such reforms, the better. this will give us more room for manoeuvre. danmarks nationalbank eagerly awaits the forthcoming plan that will chart denmark ’ s economic policy course until 2020. confidence in the danish economy will be strengthened, if broad agreement can at least be reached on the scope of the challenge. * * * the financial system is recovering. if the danish economy develops in line with our expectations, the banks will generally be resilient to the coming losses. but in view of uncertainty concerning the economic outlook, several banks would be wise to build up further buffers. * * * now that the danish banks are emerging from the crisis, it is also time to consider how we can prepare ourselves better for future financial crises. at the end of september the general government guarantee covering the banks ’ unsecured creditors expired. happily for us all, this took place without major problems. but the sector is not yet standing on its own two feet. the government has injected kr. 46 billion in subordinated capital and given guarantee commitments for a further kr. 364 billion. as these schemes expire, they must be replaced by market - based solutions. at the same time, the banks must prepare for tighter regulation and supervision in future. the challenge is to ensure a robust financial system that can survive without government assistance next time a crisis occurs. credit will be more expensive and harder to come by. banks, companies and households will all have to accept a higher equity share when operating a business or purchasing a home. this is not a purely danish challenge. many international forums are working hard to define common standards for the financial system to make it more robust and self - contained. however, the future international standards may not be sufficient to ensure a robust and selfcontained danish financial system in due time. or perhaps they will not take danish experience into account to a sufficient degree. let me mention a few areas that will be important to consider in a danish context. the basel committee ’ s proposals for new liquidity rules and the status of mortgage bonds when calculating the new liquidity buffer have for good reason been prominent in the danish debate. efforts are still underway to amend key elements of the rules. but i think the sector will have to face the fact that self issued bonds cannot be included in the calculations. and after all, if you want a sound liquidity buffer, it does actually make sense that the value of this buffer is

they should be available to the danish financial supervisory authority and danmarks nationalbank. * * * the financial crisis led to a very important piece of legislation in denmark. the general government guarantee has been replaced by a winding - up scheme for banks – known as bank rescue package iii – that provides for orderly winding - up of banks that cannot continue as going concerns under their existing ownership. from society ’ s point of view it is, as i have previously underscored, not important whether the individual bank survives, but whether sound activities can continue without interruption. people must be able to access their accounts, use their debit cards, pay their bills on time, etc. unfortunately, the current legislation does not make it mandatory for banks to join the scheme, but merely to decide at a general meeting whether they want to join the scheme now. if they say no, this generates uncertainty as to whether they will join if the need arises. during its recent visit, the imf took a positive approach to the danish winding - up scheme and recommended that banks which do not join beforehand are subjected to additional capital requirements. i hope we find a voluntary solution, and today i will merely encourage banks to join the scheme at their forthcoming general meetings. with this well - intentioned advice i would like to express my appreciation to the danish bankers association and its members for our cooperation over the past year. thank you for your attention.