remainder of the year it seemed to us appropriate to give priority to those issues relevant to credit institutions ’ preparatory work for stage three. the above - mentioned “ general documentation ” is one example of this, since credit institutions ’ preparations for participation in escb monetary policy operations as from 1 january 1999 were to a large extent dependent on the decisions to be taken by the governing council. given the lead time in this field i consider the approach adopted to be very helpful. the need to set priorities was also a major factor in opting to schedule our decision on euro area ’ s monetary strategy for the autumn of this year. the determination of a strategy for the single monetary policy is a very important decision to be taken. nonetheless, the outcome of our proceedings does not have such a direct impact on our counterparties ’ preparations for stage three as the operational framework. moreover, another reason for not yet having taken definite decisions regarding the monetary policy strategy is that the matter requires very thorough consideration. the governing council has already started with this discussion which will continue for some time. i can assure you that there are no fundamentally diverging opinions within the governing council concerning the orientation of our future monetary policy strategy. in this context, allow me to remind you that the emi had already achieved a broad consensus regarding the monetary policy strategy. in particular, certain strategies, such as exchange rate targeting or nominal income targeting were explicitly excluded some time ago. moreover, it was pointed out that the implementation of the two potential candidate strategies that had been identified, namely monetary targeting and direct inflation targeting, may, in practice, be relatively similar. a combination of elements of both strategies was also considered as a possibility. finally, there was no doubt within the emi council, that monetary policy decisions should be based on a broad range of indicator variables and that money would be assigned a prominent role, with either targets or monitoring ranges set for its growth, provided that money demand is sufficiently stable. the governing council of the ecb will continue to discuss the specification of the strategy along these lines over the months to come. the governing council will then specify the exact formulation of its strategy and its implementation in 1999 before the start of stage three.

trust prudential authorities. only strong supervisors can implement strong supervision and exercise the required scrutiny. here i am concerned about the reluctance to grant the ecb a stronger and more adequate role as a gatekeeper in ensuring that only suitable and experienced managers can take up top positions at banks, especially at large ones. ensuring that managers are " fit and proper " for their job is key for sound and robust governance. the recent episode of bank stress has shown that culture matters and that banks need to be properly managed, as otherwise trust erodes. in addition, i am concerned that all proposals still impose freezes on the macroprudential buffers of a bank when the output floor becomes binding. this is allegedly to avoid double - counting of risks. but here again, legislators should trust the macroprudential authorities to ensure that both buffers are calibrated appropriately. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches macroprudential buffers cater for system - or sector - wide risk, while the output floor caters for bank - specific risk. on a positive note, we welcome the inclusion of environmental, social and governance risks more explicitly in banking regulation, as this will grant supervisors more adequate tools to require banks to address these risks more effectively. we also welcome the new rules on third - country branches, which aim to avoid unregulated and unsupervised activities that could pose risks to financial stability in the eu. conclusion let me conclude. finalising basel iii in eu legislation is crucial to keep our banks safe in an ever - changing macro - financial environment. we should do so faithfully, without deviations, to underpin our commitment to a resilient banking sector in europe. i strongly welcome the intention of the swedish and spanish presidencies to finalise crr3 and crd6 still this year, to ensure an entry into force on 1 january 2025. targeting this date will also keep the eu aligned with the plans in other major global jurisdictions, so that we cross the finishing line together after this over ten - year endeavour to strengthen the global banking system. only by upholding strong regulation and powerful supervision, will we ensure strong and stable banks in the eu. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches