pilot. there are currently 21 participants ( 4 cma central banks and 17 commercial banks ). this system enhances and harmonises the legal and regulatory frameworks in the region and provides an integrated regional cross - border payment settlement infrastructure, allowing inter - country payments to be effected quickly, efficiently and safely. in fact, the benefits are already starting to manifest themselves. siress processed 1 780 settlement instructions to the value of r15 billion during august 2013 which was the first full month in which the system was in operation. the settlement amounts will increase quite significantly with roll - out to four more countries by april 2014 and eventually more broadly in sadc. further developments are also envisaged. for example, the sadc banking association and a work group from the committee of sadc stock exchanges ( cosse ) are working on the business model and related agreements for the settlement of the cash leg of securities trades. rising intra - regional trade has been a defining characteristic of globalisation over the last two decades. however, it has long been recognised that africa is highly fragmented with poor institutional arrangements and insufficient coordination at national and sub - regional levels. these factors have undermined the role of intra - regional trade in fostering economic growth on the continent. while africa ’ s intra - regional trade share has doubled from 6 per cent to 12 per cent between 1990 and 2011, this remains remarkably low in a global context, considering the spatial proximity of african countries to one another. the treaties establishing the common market for eastern and southern africa ( comesa ), the east african community ( eac ), and the south african development community ( sadc ) provide for the establishment of a monetary union in each bloc. however, overlapping memberships, the slow ratification and implementation of protocols coupled with the socioeconomic policy divergences have proven to be a serious obstacle to the process of regional and continental integration. significant progress on economic integration has been achieved in some quarters, the most notable being the long track record of the southern african customs union ( sacu ) and common monetary area ( cma ). one needs to warn against overly rapid monetary union formation, however, and emphasise the importance of the context and sequencing of economic integration initiatives. as the european experience has demonstrated, a monetary union without significant elements of a fiscal union could amplify tension rather than bring harmony. bis central bankers ’ speeches in june 2011, african heads of state and government committed themselves to the tripartite free trade area ( t

##4 just as much as us corporate bond spreads. it also triggers declines in euro area stock markets of a similar magnitude to the declines in us stock markets. 5 however, the financial spillovers from ecb monetary policy to us bond spreads, or to foreign equity markets, are found to be less impactful. this asymmetry in the international impact of us 1 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches monetary policy and euro area monetary policy is rooted in the dominant role of the us dollar in global financial markets. furthermore, our analysis6 shows that there are only limited spillovers from the monetary policy of the federal reserve to euro area inflation and output. this suggests that ecb monetary policy actions are, by and large, able to shield the euro area economy from spillovers from us monetary policy. but undoubtedly, there is evidence that us monetary policy is a driver of a “ global financial cycle ”. 7 in step with such a financial cycle the risks to euro area financial stability can change as well. current financial stability concerns in the euro area as you know, our characterisation of the main risks to euro area financial stability has remained broadly unchanged over the recent years. we see four main risks : the most prominent risk stems from the possibility of a disorderly increase of global risk premia. the second risk is related to renewed debt sustainability concerns, for sovereign debt in particular. the third risk is that banks ’ intermediation capacity may be hampered by their continued low profitability. finally, we are of the opinion that possible liquidity strains in the investment fund sector constitute a growing risk. all four risks are intertwined and would have, if they were to materialise, the potential to be mutually reinforcing. in 2018, a growing economy and improved banking sector resilience were important positive factors supporting financial stability. now, however, the assessment is affected by a weakening economic growth outlook for the euro area. in the latest ecb staff macroeconomic projections, expected real gdp growth was revised downwards, and the outlook continues to be viewed as tilted to the downside on account of persistent uncertainties related to geopolitical factors, the threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets. in my view, the deterioration in the growth outlook increases the risk of financial instability particularly via two main channels. first, low economic growth raises concerns about sovereign debt sustainability. and second, it further dampens profitability prospects for the banking sector. a weaker growth trajectory will challenge euro area sovereign