##scopic and telescopic. and the gaping hole in the pre - crisis policy architecture – the macro - prudential layer – has now been filled. the institutional architecture for macro - financial policy has also been adapted since the crisis to better enable interactions between these policy layers to be addressed. in the uk, the micro - prudential, macro - prudential and monetary policy arms of policy are now attached to a single body, the bank of england. each arm has a separate policy committee tasked with bis central bankers ’ speeches setting policy. but these policy committees have shared inputs of information and meet jointly to discuss areas of intersecting policy responsibility ( bank of england ( 2014 ) ). taking each of the arms of policy in turn, at the highest level of resolution micro - prudential policy frameworks have been significantly revised in a number of countries since the crisis. often, this has had the aim of refocussing the microscope on the systemic, as well as firmspecific, risks facing banks. for the world ’ s largest banks, significant extra cushions of lossabsorbing capacity are now being required, together with changes to banks ’ organisational structures to make them credibly resolvable. in some countries, including the uk and us, large banks ’ activities are being separated or ring - fenced. these initiatives ought, over time, to lower the degree of complexity and inter - connectivity of these entities, making them less virulent super - spreaders of financial contagion. a second area of progress is stress - testing. a major step forward was taken last year in the concurrent stress - testing of banks across europe. this followed the successful practice first adopted in the us in 2009. concurrent stress - testing of the whole banking sector allows both top - down and bottom - up perspectives to be brought to bear when assessing individual firms ’ risks. this opens up the possibility of taking seriously complex behavioural interactions, both within the financial sector and between it and the wider economy. for example, a capital - deficient firm might withdraw funding and cause wider liquidity pressures for other banks. or a sequence of capital - deficient banks might contract lending in a credit crunch, thereby damaging the wider economy and feeding back negatively to other banks ’ portfolios ( haldane ( 2009 ) ). yet it remains early days in the development of stress - testing technologies. a system of systems perspective could be useful in enabling stress - testing technologies to better capture

in london is in place so that anyone who wishes to do so can trade and settle in euro in london from the first day of emu. we are also helping to ensure that city firms whatever their nationality - are properly prepared so that they and their customers can make full use of the infrastructure. we are providing information to the london market so that firms - whatever their nationality - are as well informed as possible about the technical side of the preparations for the euro. this is the significance of our broadly quarterly series of publications on ‘ practical issues ’, which now has a circulation of around 40, 000, of which 5, 000 go directly overseas. we also aim to promote agreement between central banks and market practitioners across europe on practical issues in areas where the market requires a degree of co - ordination. in conclusion, i want to emphasise three points. first, the introduction of the euro on 1 january 1999 will create a major currency for financing, with significant depth and liquidity. second, london will be ready for the introduction of the euro. anybody who wishes to do so will be able to trade and settle in euro in london from the first day of emu. third, as europe ’ s leading financial centre, we are confident that london will be the international financial centre for the euro. and by providing competitive financial services in euro, london will help to increase the flow of business between europe and the us. the city is not just a major national asset. it is a major asset for europe and the international economy as a whole.