fact that there has always been, and there will always be, a strong interconnection between the state of the public finances and the quality of the banks ’ balance sheets. because of that, following a deep financial and banking crisis in the mid - 1990s, bulgaria adopted one of the most conservative supervisory standards and practices in europe. what is more, they have been persistently implemented in a countercyclical fashion, both before and during the crisis. as deputy governor simeonov will detail later at this conference, the bnb has mastered and tested successfully a long list of both “ macro ” and “ micro ” bank supervision instruments. in the “ good ” times, the bnb insisted on the build - up of capital and liquidity buffers, discouraging banks from excessive asset growth and risk - taking. but since the end of 2008, the bnb focused on the capital and liquidity relief for banks while also allowing them to ease lending. as a result of these conservative and countercyclical policies of the bnb, and the rather prudent behaviour of the banks themselves, today bulgaria manifests a very stable banking sector, with outstanding capital adequacy and liquidity ratios. four years after the lehman brothers collapse, the banking system of bulgaria remains one of the few in the eu where no single bank needed to be rescued or supported with taxpayers ’ or central bank money. merging the monetary and macropdudential mandates ( including banking supervision ) under the auspices of the central banks is currently being implemented in some of the “ older ” eu member states. the macroprudential oversight of the financial system is being introduced only recently at the eu level. while these new concepts are now being embraced by central bankers and politicians worldwide, the simultaneous pursuit of both monetary and banking stability, from a true macroprudential perspective, has been the order of the day for the bnb for more than a decade now. through our own painful experience with a crisis in 1996 – 1997, we became fully aware of the systemic importance of the financial system. thus a key element behind the success of the overall policy mix in bulgaria is that our central bank is entrusted with the tasks and responsibilities to regulate and supervise the banks in the country, with the goal of ensuring the stability of the banking system. bis central bankers ’ speeches only three days ago, the capital markets provided the latest proof of the efficiency of the macroeconomic policies in bulgaria and the resilience of our economy

in the face of such a severe global crisis. bulgaria ’ s global issue of 5 - year euro - denominated bonds, marking our country ’ s return to the international bond markets after a decade, was a great success. the international investors ’ orders oversubscribed the offered amount more than 6 times. their strong interest has resulted in a very low annual yield of 4. 436 %. at present, only the highest - rated eu member states can afford to pay a lower price for borrowing on the private capital markets. to conclude, we have achieved monetary and banking stability in bulgaria during the last 15 years. they have been bolstered by the synergies of monetary and macroprudential mandates ( including banking supervision ) within the central bank, complemented by the prudent fiscal policies of several consecutive governments since 1997. the bnb representatives will be eager to discuss our knowledge today and tomorrow, while also looking forward to learning about the experiences of the other countries represented at this conference. i wish you a most fruitful exchange of views and ideas. thank you very much for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches