in the national context today. see “ banking, insurance and securities supervisors enhance eu wide cooperation ”, press release dated 24 november 2005, at www. c - ebs. org, www. ceiops. org, www. cesr - eu. org. 5. concluding remarks ladies and gentlemen, it was a pleasure to give you our assessment of the state of european financial integration as well of the various contributions that the ecb, and the eurosystem as a whole, make in fostering this process. let me put today ’ s theme in the context of the lisbon strategy to which the ecb is inflexibly attached. creating well functioning, competitive and efficient markets is a key aspect of the lisbon goals. the benefits from the internal market in terms of growth and employment, the two clear objectives on which the lisbon strategy focuses, are still to be fully exploited. financial integration is one tool with which to achieve these benefits. the ecb, for its part, will continue to make its contribution. thank you for your attention.

was made clear that, with a combination of large - scale purchases of japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) and a negative interest rate, central banks can exert strong downward pressure on the entire yield curve. what used to be regarded as the most effective monetary policy measure after the short - term policy interest rate facing the zero lower bound was the central banks'large - scale purchases of government bonds that directly influence long - term interest rates. based on this recognition, the bank has been conducting jgb purchases as the main easing measure under qqe. thereafter, the european central bank ( ecb ) introduced the negative interest rate policy in 2014, and other central banks such as those in switzerland and sweden followed suit. this policy seeks the possibility of monetary policy that can lead to overcoming the zero lower bound. after analyzing the experiences of these european economies, the bank introduced " qqe with a negative interest rate " in january 2016. the experience since then proves that the combination of a negative interest rate and purchases of government bonds is effective in influencing the entire yield curve. meanwhile, declines in long - and short - term interest rates to unprecedented levels revealed related side effects. one is the effects on the profits of financial institutions. a decline in lending rates accompanying monetary easing has been brought about by reducing financial institutions'lending margins. the other is that an excessive decline in interest rates - especially at the long and super - long end - - will likely lower the rates of return on pension and insurance products, leading to uncertainty regarding the sustainability of financial functioning in a broader sense, thereby exerting a negative impact on economic activity and inflation expectations through a deterioration in people's sentiment. against this background, with a view to pursuing monetary easing, it is necessary for the bank to facilitate the formation of a yield curve, which is deemed most appropriate for achieving the price stability target of 2 percent, taking account of developments in economic activity and prices as well as financial conditions. b. qqe with yield curve control in light of these findings of the comprehensive assessment, the bank introduced " qqe with yield curve control. " this new policy framework consists of two components. the first is an " inflation - overshooting commitment. " as i mentioned earlier, inflation expectations increased significantly after the introduction of qqe but have remained in a weakening phase since last summer amid the headwinds of various developments in domestic and overseas economies. in order to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent,