manoeuvre so that they can equalise differences between different economies. the escb therefore does not pursue an exchange rate target. its monetary policy is oriented exclusively to the risks to internal price stability. the exchange rate does play a certain role, however, because key import goods - such as raw materials and energy - are invoiced in dollars. the decisive factor, however, is always the overall monetary policy setting. this is something which the governing council of the ecb will analyse thoroughly at its next meeting on thursday. iii mr yam, another factor which has doubtless contributed to your successful monetary policy track record is the proximity to the market of the hong kong monetary authority, which is also responsible for supervising the financial markets and the banking sector. monetary authorities must have their finger on the pulse of the financial markets. after all, monetary policy decisions have direct implications not only for the money market but also for the foreign exchange and capital markets - both nationally and globally. today, given interlinked markets and internationally active credit institutions, instability can spread more easily. this tendency is being reinforced by the fact that some credit institutions are acquiring new, truly global dimensions - as is illustrated by the announced merger of deutsche bank and dresdner bank here in germany. hence there is a much greater onus on central banks than in the past to take on responsibility for the financial stability of the financial markets, too. they have to focus their efforts in this context on crisis prevention. central banks need to monitor the markets constantly so that they can detect crisis signals at an early stage. for this they require prudential supervisory information on system - relevant individual institutions at first hand. this is why they also have an oversight function for the payment system, for that could pose substantial systemic risks to the banking sector if major market players were to experience disruptions in their payment operations. in germany it is the bundesbank which, by virtue of its involvement in banking supervision or as the government ’ s fiscal agent, is able to inject the necessary market competence and market proximity into the monetary policy decision - making process. in all the discussion about the tasks and future structure of the bundesbank, therefore, it must be assured that the german central bank remains anchored in the financial markets. the reform of the bundesbank must lead to more streamlined structures and to a strengthening of the bundesbank within the escb. germany, as one of the major industrial nations in the world and the

andreas dombret : why focus on culture? statement by dr andreas dombret, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the institute of law and finance conference “ towards a new age of responsibility in banking and finance : getting the culture and the ethics right ”, goetheuniversity, frankfurt am main, 23 november 2015. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for me to be here with you at the ilf conference to discuss responsibility in banking and finance with you. let ’ s start with a little thought experiment. if i were to ask you to take out a blank sheet of paper and to write down your company ’ s values and ethics, would you be able to do it? would it be easy or difficult? let me go a step further : if i were to ask some of your colleagues to do the same – without conferring with each other – would your sheets be similar or different? my bet is that they would be different, at least in some of the details. however, i am pretty sure that most of you here today have already given some thought to culture and ethics, both privately and professionally. furthermore, i reckon that a lot of your companies have already adopted a code of conduct, a code of ethics or the like. under these assumptions, why do you think i believe no two sheets would look exactly alike? there are two reasons. one is that how corporate values are ranked in terms of priority is, of course, informed by personal values and ethics. the other is that a corporate culture may well exist on paper – and only there. and this is exactly where the heart of the problem lies : creating a corporate culture and embodying this culture in one ’ s own behaviour and daily life are two altogether different things. banks support the functioning of the economic cycle by term transformation, lot size transformation and risk transformation, to name just a few ways. to do so, they have to act as agents for at least two parties : savers and investors. however, for the bank to be able to act as an agent, both parties have to trust the bank. trust – this is one of the most important factors in the banking sector. without it, banking as we know it would be difficult, if not impossible. sadly, the financial crisis and its aftermath demolished many people ’ s confidence and trust in the banking system. now it is up to us to regain this trust, re - establish