and with varied modalities, unprecentented expansionary monetary policies. the federal reserve system led the way, followed by the bank of england, the bank of japan and the european central bank ( ecb ), the latter two motivated also by the growing risk of deflation. these policies have engineered sharp declines in interest rates across the yield curve. the zero lower bound in the policy reference rates became binding in all the above - mentioned cases ( figure 1 ). in addition, forward guidance for the policy rates and quantitative easing ( qe ) have been adopted. as a result, the balance sheets of aes central banks have increased sharply ( figure 2 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 1 advanced economies : central bank target rate % u. k. u. s. eurozone japan source : bloomberg. figure 2 advanced economies : assets in the balance of central banks % of gdp 70 % 60 % bank of japan 50 % 40 % european central bank federal reserve 30 % 20 % bank of england 10 % apr - 14 may - 13 jun - 12 jul - 11 aug - 10 sep - 09 oct - 08 nov - 07 dec - 06 0 % bis central bankers ’ speeches the overall objective of unconventional monetary policies ( ump ) in these aes has been to stimulate growth and employment, while inducing the convergence of inflation to each countries´ objective. inflation in most aes has fallen below their objective, mostly as a result of widespread unemployment, large output gaps, reduction in commodities prices, in particular of oil, and more recently in the united states, due to a sharp effective appreciation of the us dollar. i believe that given the magnitude of the gfc and the policy options available, the ump have been essential and they have worked well so far. economic recovery in the united states and in the united kingdom, and to a lesser extent in japan, have taken hold, and recent figures in the eurozone have been promising. inflation expectations and core inflation have been moving towards the respective central banks ’ objectives. nonetheless, my perception is that it is too early to declare victory. to begin with, we still have to see if the unwinding of those policies can proceed in an orderly fashion, once their immediate objectives are met. once we reach that state of affairs, the unwinding of ump will be unavoidable, given that otherwise they would feed into inflation, and induce higher than warranted interest rates and financial instability. this is the reason why

opening remarks by gerardo esquivel hernandez, deputy governor of banco de mexico, on the occasion of the 16th annual conference of the international operational risk working group ( iorwg ) mexico city, september 20, 2022 good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. on behalf of banco de mexico, i am pleased to welcome you to the 16th annual conference of the international operational risk working group ( iorwg ), hosted by banco de mexico, and jointly organized along with banco de espana and the federal reserve bank of philadelphia. this event takes place in a context in which the covid - 19 pandemic has tested the resilience of countries and institutions, including central banks. we have faced unprecedented challenges to achieve an extremely difficult balance between different objectives : maintaining the continuity of central banks'operations, prioritizing the health of the staff, and making sure that central banks are able to fully perform their functions and attain their objectives and purposes. although central banks already had operational continuity strategies, most of them were not entirely prepared for the type of contingency we experienced during the pandemic. however, the mere existence of these strategies was a key element that helped us to rapidly find new ways to perform and maintain operations. in fact, the pandemic contingency transformed our institutions into even more resilient organizations, capable of coping with adverse scenarios, by developing prevention, response, adaptation, recovery, and learning mechanisms. the degree of commitment and responsibility that we have with our institutions, which is a fundamental pillar of financial stability in our countries, was truly brought out during this emergency. in terms of resilience, we rapidly adapted our work schemes and transitioned to a general remote work setting which, in the case of banco de mexico, had only been implemented as a business continuity strategy for critical processes and in very specific areas. by doing so, we confirmed that the central bank staff is the most important and valuable asset of the institution. its capabilities, solidarity, adaptability, and flexibility were key elements in getting through the pandemic, and contributed decisively to fulfill the mission of our institution uninterruptedly. the lessons learned from what we have undergone over the last two years will certainly strengthen us as central banks. we must now adjust to the challenges that this new environment imposes on us. we are now moving from a world of face - to - face interaction to a hybrid reality that has allowed us to broaden the possibilities