ardian fullani : from coins to e - money – albanian national currency exhibition speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the opening of the exhibition marking the 85th anniversary of the national currency, national historical museum, tirana, 31 march 2011. * * * it is my pleasure to open the proceedings of the activities that the bank of albania has organized to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the national currency issue. when we decided to open today ’ s exhibition, i was personally attracted by another dimension : the history of the albanian monetary system development. the first albanian coins found date back to the 2nd century b. c. all these bronze coins feature on one side the portrait of king gent, the last ruler of illyria. as in all other countries of the ancient mediterranean, in illyria, this powerful man set an unbreakable link between money and the state, not only to promote economic activity at home, but also gain its benefits. today ’ s activity aims to capture and convey to the visitors the artistic and numismatic values, and the historical development of our national currency. while viewing the evolution of nominal values, we are able to create a vision of : the performance of the national economy over the course of years ; the purchasing power of money ; and the history of the albanian people through the portrayed entities and the depicted themes ; the cultural and social sensations through artistic elements of design. a country ’ s monetary and financial system does not only put across the sovereignty of the state economic policies, but it also enables the country ’ s economic and social development. the issue of the national currency in the form of banknotes and coins undoubtedly plays a unique role in this regard. historically, money was born as a response to the social needs for economic development and progress. its three functions as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account, allow for greater economic sophistication. these three roles were soon grasped by the ancient rulers, who were the first issuers of money in its classical forms. by acknowledging the role and power of money, these princes, kings and emperors sealed them with their portraits as a final expression of political and economic power. this is very well described by mayer rothschild, the founder of the famous rothschild dynasty, when he quotes : “... give me control of a nation ’ s money and i care not who makes the laws... ” indeed, even a surreal world as that of the

axel a weber : the reform of financial supervision and regulation in europe speech by professor axel a weber, president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the institute of international and european affairs, dublin, 10 march 2010. * 1. * * introduction ladies and gentlemen first of all, i would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you here at the institute for international and european affairs. it will come as no surprise to you that the financial crisis will be the main topic of my speech. however, the onset of the crisis lies nearly two and a half years in the past, and we are now seeing more and more signs of stabilisation and recovery. therefore, i shall leave aside the current state of financial markets and shall instead try to look ahead, focusing on structural issues. in this regard, the main challenge for the years to come will be to create a more stable and more resilient financial system to prevent future crises. it is obvious, however, that such an ambitious endeavour will not happen on its own. instead, it requires strong commitment, resolute efforts and broad reforms. where to begin? 2. lessons from the financial crisis the first step in any serious reform should be to gain a clear understanding of the events that occurred and their underlying causes. even though it is a tempting thing to do, a crisis of the magnitude we have been witnessing over the past two and a half years cannot be traced back to a single cause. in fact, there could be a hundred narratives, and each would appear to explain the events in a satisfying manner. the most popular of these narratives would revolve around the following explanations for the crisis : gaps in the regulatory framework, distorted incentives inside the financial system, such as short - termist remuneration schemes, an insufficient resilience of the financial system, an institutional design of financial supervision that did not properly reflect the crossborder dimension of crises, and a lack of awareness of systemic risks. all these narratives point to a number of lessons to be learned. and it is these lessons which show us the direction for the reform of the financial system. with regard to financial regulation and supervision, the lessons of the crisis cover, broadly speaking, the following four areas : first, we have to improve regulation and supervision at the microeconomic level. second, we have to pay greater attention to systemic risk control at the macroeconomic level. third, we have to ensure an effective interplay between these two levels