forward guidance language, noting that economic conditions – including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run – were likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through the middle of 2013. by providing a longer time horizon than had previously been expected by the public, the statement tended to put downward pressure on longer - term interest rates. at the january 2012 fomc meeting, the committee amended the forward guidance further, extending the horizon over which it expects economic conditions to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate to at least through late 2014. in addition to the adjustments made to the forward guidance, the committee modified its policies regarding the federal reserve ’ s holdings of securities. in september, the committee bernanke, “ semiannual monetary policy report to the congress ” ( see note 4 ). inflation is measured using the price index for personal consumption expenditures. see table 1 available at board of governors, “ federal reserve board and federal open market committee release economic projections ” ( see note 3 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches put in place a maturity extension program that combines purchases of longer - term treasury securities with sales of shorter - term treasury securities. the objective of this program is to lengthen the average maturity of our securities holdings without generating a significant change in the size of our balance sheet. removing longer - term securities from the market should put downward pressure on longer - term interest rates and help make financial market conditions more supportive of economic growth than they otherwise would have been. to help support conditions in mortgage markets, the committee also decided at its september meeting to reinvest principal received from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage - backed securities ( mbs ) in agency mbs, rather than continuing to reinvest those proceeds in longer - term treasury securities as had been the practice since august 2010. the committee reviews the size and composition of its securities holdings regularly and is prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery in the context of price stability. before concluding, i would like to say a few words about the statement of longer - run goals and policy strategy that the fomc issued at the conclusion of its january meeting. the statement reaffirms our commitment to our statutory objectives, given to us by the congress, of price stability and maximum employment. its purpose is to provide additional transparency and increase the effectiveness of monetary policy. the statement does not imply a change in how the committee conducts policy. transparency is

‘ what a difference a decade makes ’, a speech by mark carney, https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / / media / boe / files / speech / 2017 / what - a - difference - a - decademakes. pdf? la = en & hash = ca8f77c4f518dcfb8c697c03704773370c82326d, ‘ ten years on : lessons from northern rock, a speech by jon cunliffe, https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / - / media / boe / files / speech / 2017 / ten - years - on - lessons - from - northernrock. pdf? la = en & hash = 9543f1499c211a505206615da86c8c88d7988365, ‘ the revolution is over. long live the revolution! ’, a speech by sam woods, https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / - / media / boe / files / speech / 2016 / the - revolution - is - over - long - live - therevolution. pdf? la = en & hash = c5a74c42f5129d9505a8fa27b211be2404c71351, and ‘ rethinking financial stability ’, a speech by andy haldane, https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / - / media / boe / files / speech / 2017 / rethinking - financialstability. pdf? la = en & hash = c6f5991f2dd69e1c84610b0ebe51fb03f5f62e61 all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches they were prior to the crisis ( chart 1 ). and uk banks ’ buffers of liquid assets have increased by over 40 percent since 2010 ( chart 2 ). basel iii finalisation turning back to last december ’ s basel iii package, it is important to remember the aim of these reforms. their aim was to reduce excessive variability of banks ’ risk - weighted assets, and in doing so making banks ’ risk - based capital ratios more transparent and comparable. this