response to these developments, the international community adopted in 2009, under the impetus of the g20, an ambitious reform programme including basel iii, which is a key element for the banking sector. indeed, a banking system that is more robust as a whole and capable of absorbing major shocks is vital to avoid the repetition of such chain reactions in the future. in this respect, despite the delay in the reform agenda in the united states, europe must clearly press forward : the credibility of our banks and our economies is at stake. basel iii is naturally based on basel ii which establishes the current capital adequacy rules. however, basel iii goes further than merely changing and updating the existing rules. – basel iii indeed considerably strengthens the capital requirements that banks must meet, but this reform is more extensive in that it significantly enhances the prudential framework : in addition to capital requirements, it establishes liquidity requirements, and a leverage ratio is set to be introduced in the medium term. from this point of view, basel iii is a far - reaching reform of banking regulation. bis central bankers ’ speeches – furthermore, and most importantly, i believe that basel iii is a major step forward in that it leads to a much closer interaction than has been the case to date between the individual supervision of banks, known as microprudential supervision, and the overall supervision of the banking and financial system, or macroprudential supervision. this broader view of banking supervision, taking account of all its facets, translates into a number of provisions and notably introduces additional capital buffers ( a capital conservation buffer, a countercyclical buffer and a buffer for systemically important financial institutions ) in excess of the regulatory minimum. basel iii therefore represents a quantitative and also a qualitative leap. given the magnitude of the changes to be made, basel iii has major repercussions on market participants, who must adapt to this new environment. these repercussions are both anticipated and desirable, but the potentially negative consequences of this reform must be kept to a minimum. in this respect, many associated risks were highlighted during its drafting and even more so recently, due to the current economic and financial difficulties. these included the risk of a rise in the cost of credit or of a credit crunch. hence, the impact and stakes of basel iii must be carefully analysed and addressed. 2. the difficult economic environment stresses the importance of implementing basel iii in an appropriate manner but does not call into question

senior management of the possibilities for improving their operations through more effective technology and systems management. an example would be those old, inefficient legacy systems we just had to rework. i would not expect to see them proliferate again, once they disappear. among the millions of smaller businesses and not - for - profit organizations, there is a new awareness and appreciation for what computers can do and a new sense of confidence in their ability to capture these improvements. this new sensitivity should lead to a far more rapid assimilation of the information technology revolution than has been the case in similar technical breakthroughs in the past. for example, the development of steam power, and later the wide availability of electrical power, took many decades to work through into comprehensive utilization by the economies of their day. computers, of course, were invented a half - century ago, but it is only quite recently that they have evolved into broadly useful tools. it is even more recently that they have begun to have a major impact on the everyday operation of our economy. at the end of the 1950s, there were about 2, 000 computers up and running in the world. forty years later, there are approximately 200 million, and they are, of course, vastly more powerful and far less expensive. this should now expand much more quickly as a result of the rapid and wide exposure information technology achieved through the run - up to the y2k event. there has been a great deal of concern in our society over the past several years about an emerging “ digital divide ” between the more and the less advantaged elements of our society. computer literacy, some fear, will further widen the already broad gulf between the earning power of rich and poor. i would hope that y2k ’ s wide public awareness and involvement could provide us an opportunity to shrink that gap rather than see it open even more. certainly, everyone now knows there is a strong demand for computer skills in the workplace today and that it will only enlarge. therein lies a huge employment opportunity, offering good wages and working conditions, for qualified applicants. to be sure, as is the case in so many other opportunities for societal improvement, an improvement in the education system will be required for us to seize this chance to move a step closer to greater income parity. but computers are now very much on the minds of leaders in education reform. on the other hand, y2k, by exposing the vast differences in computer sophistication among nations,