i am in no doubt that it will adapt and come to terms with any changes the negotiations might bring. 4. importance and boundaries of politics ladies and gentlemen, i have given you an impression of the role i see for supervisors and 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches central banks. of course, there is another party from the public sector that plays a role : politicians. and the importance of politicians can ’ t be overestimated when it comes to the future relations between the uk and the eu. how these turn out can only be determined by the elected representatives of the people. " but there are also areas where politicians have, for very good reasons, restricted their own influence. i am talking about the realm of monetary policy and, to some degree, banking and financial supervision. as governor carney put it : " the objectives are what are set by the politicians ; the policies are done by technocrats. " nevertheless, we have seen some criticism of central banks and their policies from politicians lately. this concerned, for example, the handling of brexit as well as conducting monetary policy and setting interest rates more generally. in light of this criticism, it may be time for a friendly reminder that central bank independence is not debatable. experience shows that political influence over central banks always leads into disorder. at the end of the day, independent central banks best guarantee price stability. calling central bank independence into question, even only implicitly, can confuse markets as well as the public about who is in charge when it comes to monetary policy and supervisory decisions. in summary, politicians are well advised not to exert influence in the wrong place or with the wrong measures. in this context, i am also worried about some rather protectionist tones in recent economic and legal debates. politicians as well as public authorities must resist any temptation to give preferential treatment to domestic companies and banks – or to exert excessively tough action on foreign businesses. as barack obama recently said : " a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself. " 5. conclusion ladies and gentleman, over the past few minutes i offered you an overview of what i believe the banking sector can expect from supervisors, regulators and politicians – and what not. it turned out to be quite a long list. if, as a bank representative, you were to ask me what i expect from banks in return, i would say just one thing : i expect you to take up the challenge. in a market economy, coping with

multiple challenges and an adverse business environment is the core responsibility of a business ’ s management. no one else ’ s. at the beginning of my speech today, i spoke about an imminent and profound change in the banking sector. after the dust has settled, there will not only be winners. but if we honour the division of responsibility between banks, supervisors and policymakers, we can open up the path towards a banking sector that is both stable and profitable. of course, this is not to say that there shouldn ’ t be communication or even cooperation among the parties involved – quite the contrary, in fact. that ’ s why it ’ s so important to have opportunities, like today ’ s conference, to get together and discuss not just the challenges, but also the strategies needed to overcome them. i am looking forward to having this conversation with you now. thank you very much for your attention. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches