see it as your responsibility to provide our publics with the best service possible. excel so, if we elevate you and you elevate yourselves, and if we empower you and you accept that power and utilise it judiciously, the only thing that can follow is that you excel and the bank excels. it will mean that you become a stronger, happier, and more engaged employee because you are better at your job, find it meaningful, and are rewarded accordingly. it will mean that the bank benefits from having high performing, highly motivated team members that make it possible to fulfil its mandate. it will mean that you have internalised excellence and the bank has become an organisation of world - class excellence. let me end by extending my congratulations to and expressing my appreciation for all of tonight's awardees, both those of you who have given significant years of your life to the organisation and those who, regardless of how long you have been with us have made a tremendous contribution and had a notable significant impact. kudos to you, and may we all be inspired by you. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches i thank you. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

able to remove those fears at the source. those fears were unjustified by economic fundamentals. they were the result of market failure : a situation where investors seem to act rationally, but collectively they create destructive outcomes. countries that were fundamentally adjusting were being driven to the wall by panic. and the result would have been unnecessary hardship and suffering. much has been written about this measure, especially in this country, and some fundamental questions have been raised : is the ecb still independent? and will the ecb stay focused on fighting inflation? the answer to both these questions is a categorical “ yes ”. first, we always protect our independence. bis central bankers ’ speeches we take all our monetary policy decisions in full independence. and we have designed the omts so that these decisions could never be dominated by fiscal policies. this is why a pre - condition for access to the omts is a strong economic adjustment programme. it ensures that we would only ever intervene in situations where fiscal discipline is firmly ensured. second, we keep a permanent watch on inflation. we understand and take very seriously people ’ s concerns about possible inflationary threats. but it is a fallacy to make a mechanical connection between the creation of central bank liquidity and a rise in the money supply. the liquidity we provide to banks is used in the markets where banks lend to each other. it does not automatically increase credit or money in the economy – and so does not automatically lead to price pressure in the economy. indeed, money growth is currently well below an inflationary level. credit provision to the private sector is overall weak, and contracting in large parts of the euro area. and inflation expectations are firmly anchored. so risks of inflation down the road are firmly in check. the euro area dimension to our actions it is also important to understand that our measures are designed not only to help the people in countries under stress. in fact, in line with our mandate, they serve the citizens of the whole euro area. many of the financial developments that concern people in this country – such as meagre returns on their savings or large imbalances in the target - 2 payment system – are really only the mirror image of fragmentation in the rest of the euro area. as money flows out of stressed countries and into safe - haven countries like germany, it pushes up interest rates in the stressed countries, and pushes down interest rates here. these flows cause target - 2 imbalances to increase. what has not been sufficiently