janet l yellen : the importance of asset building for low and middle income households speech ( via prerecorded video ) by ms janet l yellen, chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the 2014 assets learning conference of the corporation for enterprise development, washington dc, 18 september 2014. * * * thank you for this opportunity to show my support for the work all of you do on assetbuilding, and to say a few words on this vitally important topic. the financial crisis and the great recession demonstrated, in a dramatic and unmistakable manner, how extraordinarily vulnerable are the large share of american families with very few assets to fall back on. we have come far from the worst moments of the crisis, and the economy continues to improve. but the effects of the recession are still being felt by many families, particularly those that had very little in savings and other assets beforehand. to help make this point, i ’ d like to cite a few numbers from the federal reserve ’ s 2013 survey of consumer finances, published earlier this month. the survey is conducted every three years and this new edition provides one of the first good looks at how families in different economic circumstances have fared in the recovery. for lower - income families, what we find is sobering. the median net worth reported by the bottom fifth of households by income was only $ 6, 400 in 2013. among this group, representing about 25 million american households, many families had no wealth or had negative net worth. the next fifth of households by income had median net worth of just $ 27, 900. these numbers represent declines from 2010. one reason is that income has continued to fall for these families. another likely reason for this decline in net worth is the lingering effects of the housing crisis. home equity accounts for the lion ’ s share of wealth for most families and many of these families have not yet recovered the wealth they lost in the housing crisis. the housing market is improving and housing will remain an important channel for asset building for lower and middle income families. but one of the lessons of the crisis, which will not be news to many of you, is the importance of diversification and especially of possessing savings and other liquid financial assets to fall back in times of economic distress. yet for lower and middle income families, financial assets, including 401 ( k ) plans and pensions, are still a very small share of their assets. according to the 2013 survey, the bottom half of families

“ the value of the lei for identification in digital processes ” speech by klaas knot at the gleif meet the market event 2020 amsterdam, 4 february 2020 this meet the market event was hosted by the global legal entity identifier foundation ( gleif ) and organized in coorperation with dnb. in his opening address, klaas knot outlined the background to the legal entity identifier ( lei ), and described the valuable role it can play in managing financial risks and enhancing the quality and accuracy of financial data. mr knot also emphasised how authorities and market participants alike can reap the benefits of more widespread adoption of the lei. good afternoon, and welcome to 5 - 4 - 9 - 3 - 0 - 0 - 1 - o - 3 - 6 - c - v - k - p - v - l - 2 - d - 4 - 8. in other words, welcome to de nederlandsche bank. of course, it is easier to call this place by its name. and not by its 20 - character alpha - numeric code. but the legal entity identifier – in short, lei – is a valuable initiative and that is what we are here to discuss today. before we do, let me share a bit of background, from my perspective about how and why the lei was developed. and how you can play an important role in further expanding its use. thereby making the financial system a little bit safer one lei at a time. like many other regulatory innovations, the lei was born out of the global financial crisis. the years leading up to the crisis saw a diverse range of legal entities trading on financial markets. many of them were also part of much larger firms, even though this was not always clear. these financial conglomerates combined many different structures and activities. and they operated across many different jurisdictions. but they also lacked transparency and stability. lehman brothers was a prime example of this : a patchwork of cross - border and cross - entity interdependencies. lehman ’ s insolvency resulted in over seventy - five separate bankruptcy proceedings. when it collapsed, the group was party to over nine hundred thousand derivatives contracts. when the crisis hit, it was unclear which party owed what to whom. the resulting insecurity caused even more panic on the financial markets. the root of the problem was the large number of legal entities, scattered across the world, with no uniform international method of identification. the lei was therefore introduced