considered in some important decisions. it was especially emphasized that stakeholders should be involved in the insolvency process. fourth, the stakeholders should have access to necessary information on managing the company. the oecd again revised the five principles in 2004. in this revision, the protection of stakeholders and whistle blowers is emphasized. it, to a larger extent, stresses the rights of employees and creditors. there are three main aspects. first, it clearly states to establish a mechanism that enhances the participation of employees. stakeholders, including individual employees and their representatives, shall be able to freely express their views to the board with respect to any illegal or immoral activities in the company. employees ’ views and their rights to express the views shall be respected and protected. it shall be ensured that information can flow safely and confidentially to the board. second, corporate governance shall ensure the enhanced participation of employees, so that the employees ’ special skills can be put to use in the company, benefiting the company directly or indirectly. the examples of employees ’ participation include increasing representatives of employees in the board, adopting the plan of employee stocks holding and establishing a profit sharing mechanism such as pension contribution. for instance, pension contributions can be pooled into an independent fund and the fund manager shall be independent from the company ’ s management in terms of business operation. third, it stresses the important role of creditors in corporate governance and external supervision. it also states that effective and efficient liquidation framework and credit rights enforcement mechanism are important supplement to effective corporate governance, ensuring effective protection for the rights of the shareholders. the importance of employees and creditors is further stressed in the new version. china wishes to learn from international experiences and practices in the process of building a socialist market economy with chinese characteristics. it can be said from the point of view of a socialist market economy, china should do better in terms of employees ’ status and their involvement in managing companies. however, we do not have any established principles or framework related to stakeholders. we will learn by doing and reviewing experiences. why have we not done better compared with many traditional western economies in this aspect? it has to do with the mistakes in the past. for any country learning from the history and past experiences is a very important, though not an easy task, and one that is liable to misunderstanding. an example at hand is the americans ’ review of the great recession in 1929. the reviews generated different conclusions right after the recession and in the 30 ’ s and 40 ’ s

thomas jordan : low interest rates – blessing or curse? summary of a speech by mr thomas jordan, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the delegiertenversammlung des hev schweiz, santis, 19 june 2009. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * monetary policy uses low interest rates to try and stimulate demand as a way of combating the economic crisis. the property market is an important transmission channel in this regard, as low mortgage rates provide direct relief to home owners and tenants in the form of lower interest payments and rents. this provides households with greater room for manoeuvre in consumption and investment. this in turn boosts overall economic demand and economic growth. however, despite these direct positive effects, a low level of interest rates can also pose medium - term risks for the stability of the swiss property market, and hence the financial system. the past has repeatedly shown that prolonged periods of low interest rates can lead to speculation on property markets, and to declining standards in mortgage lending. the challenge in today ’ s difficult environment is how to boost the economy through low interest rates without creating medium - term risks for the stability of the financial system and the property market. responsible behaviour on the part of home owners, combined with bank discipline when granting loans, can contain these risks. households should buy property only if they would also be able to afford it if interest rates increased. moreover, they should finance their house purchase with a sufficient proportion of equity. equity acts as a cushion, absorbing movements in property prices. in addition, banks should use discipline in lending practices, even in an environment of low interest rates. the prime considerations when granting loans should be the observance of maximum loan - to - value ratios and a conservative valuation of property.