jean - claude trichet : central bank cooperation after the global financial crisis video address by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the bank of korea international conference 2010 “ the changing role of central banks ”, seoul, 31 may 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, first, let me congratulate the bank of korea on its 60th anniversary. the bank has made essential contributions in korea ’ s economic development, the reform of the country ’ s financial system and its integration into the global financial system. the clear focus on controlling inflation and the strengthened independence further buttressed the role of bank of korea in the economy. and recently, the bank ’ s timely and decisive measures helped korea weather the global financial crisis. hence, there are many reasons to congratulate and wish bank of korea a very happy birthday! * * * let me now say a few words about central bank cooperation during and after the crisis, which the bank of korea is so closely involved in. the cooperation among central banks has recently taken numerous forms, such as information sharing and the setting of general standards and rules. such cooperation has been mainly channelled through the various fora at the bank for international settlements ( bis ) in basel. these include the governors ’ global economy meeting and the other committees that meet under the aegis of the bis as well as the financial stability board. the global economy meeting comprises the esteemed governor kim and some 30 other governors from all systemically important economies. it is held every two months in basel and provides a unique opportunity to discuss the global economic outlook, policy challenges as well as any other topics of mutual interest. until january this year, the global economy meeting was primarily concerned with assessing global economic and financial conditions. since then, it was entrusted with an additional assignment : it now provides guidance to, and formally decides on, issues discussed by the various basel - based central bank committees. this responsibility had been in the hands of g10 governors for decades. i have the privilege to chair the global economy meeting and find the frank and in - depth discussions of invaluable importance for my own work and for the central bank community at large. central bank cooperation is part of a more general trend that is reshaping global governance, and which has been spurred by the global financial crisis. one distinctive aspect of this crisis has been its originating in industrial economies. emerging countries have also been severely affected, but as a group remained a source of strength for the

greater use of their own assessments of risk as inputs to capital calculations. in that vein, basel ii will provide banks with a range of options for determining their capital requirements for credit and operational risk. this will allow both banks and supervisors to select approaches that are most appropriate for banks ’ operations and local financial markets. national authorities in the g10 countries will now continue their focus on adopting and implementing the new framework through domestic rule - making processes. consistent implementation of the new framework across borders through enhanced supervisory co - operation will become a critical and challenging task in the years ahead. we are also circulating the basel ii framework to supervisory authorities worldwide. we encourage them to consider adopting this revised framework at a time that they believe may be consistent with their broader supervisory priorities and readiness. yet we recognise that adopting basel ii in the near future may not be the first priority for supervisors in these other jurisdictions. they may wish to take some steps first to strengthen the capitalisation and risk management capabilities of their banks and to enhance the quality of bank supervision. the text of basel ii will be released today on the website of the bank for international settlements. as the product of three global consultations and several quantitative impact studies, the basel ii framework has evolved and strengthened considerably since it appeared first in 1999. on behalf of the g10 governors and supervisors, i would like to warmly thank all of those organisations and individuals who contributed to the process and supported the work of the basel committee by sharing their views over the years. i welcome now the remarks of my colleague, jaime caruana, governor of the bank of spain and the chairman of the basel committee. governor caruana has devoted considerable energy and efforts to completing the work on the basel ii framework that was launched so capably by bill mcdonough, the previous chairman of the committee.