to operate supra - national governance. therefore, asian regional collaboration does not have a lead player a priori. instead, a variety of players are involved. in fact, asia has several groups of different stripes, like emeap, asean, asean + 3, asian development bank ( adb ), each with its own unique membership. such an " open - ended " modality for regional cooperation reflects asia's diversity in ethnic, historical, religious, and linguistic backgrounds. some say that asia's diversity could weaken its regional unity. there is some truth in this view, but diversity has its own advantages as well. it can create an environment in which people appreciate different values and ideas, develop a sense of tolerance to others, and become more innovative through such cross - cultural interaction. this is a unique advantage for asia to maximize, and i believe asian cooperation should move ahead in this direction. the first east asian summit meeting is slated for this december. the summit will be attended by the leaders of asean + 3 nations, india, australia, and new zealand and will be the first of its kind. this gathering of countries attests to the flexibility of asia's cooperation. given the prospect for energy development in east siberia or sakhalin, the attendees to the east asian summit may even include russia in the future. but this is anyone's guess, of course. iv. looming challenges despite the collective progress so far made, asian countries are facing new challenges. in my judgment, response to these problems will define the path of asian cooperation going forward. there is no doubt that high growth has enabled asia to savor better economic welfare. however, i see four challenges to further prosperity in asia ; • accelerate financial market integration • establish sound socioeconomic infrastructures like intellectual property right protection, transparent corporate governance, and impartial judiciary • tackle transnational problems like regional epidemics, natural calamities and environmental disruptions • formulate sustainable energy policy first, financial market integration. financial markets in asia are still ring - fenced by national borders. that makes it hard to link savings with investment opportunities within the region efficiently. as i said, the financial authorities in asia are working together to develop liquid bond markets, as they expect such markets to facilitate the marriage of savings and investment in the region. organic linkage of savings and investment would underpin sustainable growth in asia, thereby contributing eventually to the adjustment of global payment imbalances. second, socioeconomic

luis de guindos : measures to support monetary policy transmission through banks welcome address by mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, to the money market contact group, frankfurt am main, 24 september 2019. * * * in its most recent policy meeting, the ecb ’ s governing council decided on a comprehensive easing package because the downward revisions in the projected inflation path warranted a vigorous policy response. the easing package comprised five measures : lowering the deposit facility rate, strengthening the forward guidance on the likely path of policy rates, restarting the net asset purchases within the asset purchase programme, changing the terms of the third series of targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltro iii ) and introducing a two - tier system for reserve remuneration. we believe that the measures announced last week complement each other and together constitute an effective response to the environment that the ecb currently faces. these decisions were taken against the following background. first, as a result of continued global uncertainties and their impact on confidence, our latest ecb staff macroeconomic projections were revised down. we face a more protracted economic slowdown than previously anticipated and see persistent downside risks to the growth outlook. second, inflation continues to fall short of expectations. headline inflation remains well below our medium - term aim, while core inflation has been hovering around 1 % for an extended period of time. market - based indicators of future inflation outcomes have stagnated at historical lows and the profile for headline inflation has been revised down, leading to a further delay in the convergence of inflation towards our aim. the case for a monetary policy response was clear and a comprehensive package of measures was judged to be the most effective response. i will take this opportunity to delve a little deeper into two of the measures that may be especially relevant for the banking sector. the first is the changes to some of the parameters of the third series of targeted longer - term refinancing operations – tltro iii – and the second is the implementation of a two - tier system for the remuneration of excess reserves. changes to the tltro iii programme you may recall that tltro iii was announced in march to preserve the very favourable bank lending conditions in the euro area and to ensure the smooth transmission of our highly accommodative monetary policy stance. at the same time, indexing the tltro iii rates to the main refinancing operations rate and the