yves mersch : financial crisis and the challenge of supervision welcome address by mr yves mersch, governor of the central bank of luxembourg, at the ese ( european supervisor education initiative ) conference 2011 : “ financial crisis and the challenge of supervision ”, luxembourg, 28 september 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure and an honor to host the 2011 european supervisor education initiative conference on financial crises and the challenge of supervision here in luxembourg. i am pleased to note that so many participants from the supervisory and central banking community are attending. i am convinced, that stimulating input by the distinguished discussants will be beneficial to all participants. the banque centrale du luxembourg, given its mandate of prudential liquidity supervision and its role in macro - prudential policies, has joined the european supervisor education initiative in 2010. against the background of renewed vulnerabilities and turbulences in markets, the subject of the conference is indeed very timely. liquidity risk, together with sovereign and funding risk constitute for the time being the main threats to the eu - banking system. the recent intensification of tensions in the sovereign debt market has led to contagion risk of systemic nature. from a supervisory perspective, let me redraw that the past financial crisis have evidenced the fact that micro - prudential supervisory instruments and tools alone, if used in an isolated way, may no longer be sufficient to address the challenges posed by financial instability. the need has been highlighted to restructure regulation and supervision and to go beyond a purely micro - prudential approach in this regard. focussing on the development of a macroprudential framework should better position authorities to contribute to reducing pro - cyclicality and improving the financial sector ’ s resilience to adverse shocks. in response to the regulatory challenges, the european system of financial supervision ( esfs ) has been established, under which the european systemic risk board ( esrb ) has been made responsible for the macro - prudential oversight of the financial system as a whole. the work of the esrb, which is founded on close cooperation between central banks, national supervisory authorities, the european supervisory authorities ( esas ) and policy makers, will contribute to the mitigation of systemic risk within the financial system. however, despite the significant progress in institutional architecture at the european level, crucial areas within global and national financial systems remain fragile and vulnerable to unexpected shocks. all countries face a varying degree of challenges. in

christine lagarde : ecb press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by ms christine lagarde, president of the european central bank, and mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 30 april 2020. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council, which was also attended by the commission executive vice - president, mr dombrovskis. the euro area is facing an economic contraction of a magnitude and speed that are unprecedented in peacetime. measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) have largely halted economic activity in all the countries of the euro area and across the globe. survey indicators for consumer and business sentiment have plunged, suggesting a sharp contraction in economic growth and a profound deterioration in labour market conditions. given the high uncertainty surrounding the ultimate extent of the economic fallout, growth scenarios produced by ecb staff suggest that euro area gdp could fall by between 5 % and 12 % this year, depending crucially on the duration of the containment measures and the success of policies to mitigate the economic consequences for businesses and workers. as the containment measures are gradually lifted, these scenarios foresee a recovery in economic activity, although its speed and scale remain highly uncertain. inflation has declined as a result of the sharp fall in oil prices and slightly lower hicp inflation excluding energy and food. the decisive and targeted policy measures that we have taken since early march have provided crucial support to the euro area economy and especially to the sectors most exposed to the crisis. in particular, our measures are supporting liquidity conditions and helping to sustain the flow of credit to households and firms, especially small and medium - sized enterprises ( smes ), and to maintain favourable financing conditions for all sectors and jurisdictions. we welcome the measures taken by euro area governments and the european institutions to ensure sufficient healthcare resources and to provide support to affected companies, workers and households. at the same time, continued and ambitious efforts are needed, notably through joint and coordinated policy action, to guard against downside risks and to underpin the recovery. in line with our mandate, the governing council is determined to continue to support households and firms in the face of the current economic disruption and heightened uncertainty, in order to safeguard medium - term price stability. accordingly, the governing council decided today to further ease the conditions