yves mersch : the possible triangle - frictionless movement of payments, securities and collateral across europe speech by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the 2019 annual general meeting of the international capital markets association's european repo and collateral council, luxembourg, 31 january 2019. * * * introduction this year, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the euro, the single currency of 19 eu countries and over 340 million europeans. but the euro is not only important for european citizens and businesses ; it also has a global role. in fact, it is the second most used currency in the world. more than 50 countries or territories in the world use or link their currency to the euro. more than 20 % of the international reserves held by central banks outside the euro area are in euro1 – a percentage that exceeds the euro area ’ s share in global production. furthermore, the euro has become a widely accepted currency for international payments. in 2017 about 36 % of international transactions – in value terms – were invoiced or settled in euro. the status of global currency is a double - edged sword. having more weight as an international currency comes with pros and cons. the list of traditional benefits includes higher seigniorage and lower transaction and hedging costs. and – following the experience of recent decades – we can now add the better protection of domestic inflation and reduced dependence on monetary policy decisions of other major central banks. but the euro ’ s role as an international currency also comes with increased responsibilities. international currencies must be backed by large, stable and efficiently functioning economies and financial systems that are attractive to international users and investors. and last but not least, the effect of monetary policy on import prices is reduced. the ecb has always held that the international role of the euro develops as a result of market forces. accordingly, the internationalisation of the euro as such has never been a policy objective. in december 2018, however, the european commission presented a set of action points to strengthen the euro ’ s global role. to this end, the euro should become even more compelling as a means of payment and a trustworthy investment currency. these action points include the completion of economic and monetary union, banking union and capital markets union. moreover, and without prejudice to the ecb ’ s independence, we take note of the commission ’ s support for our initiatives on market infrastructure and payments, which help to increase efficiency and financial market integration

what are their lasting impacts on rental markets 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches from these policies and protections? are the lessons from the pandemic unique to that experience? our first panel will offer insights into these questions as we think about how to prepare for future economic conditions. more recently, renters and their families have struggled with inflation. rents also grew rapidly as we emerged from the pandemic. while rent inflation has eased, prices for renters seeking new leases grew by 18 percent in 2021 compared to 2 percent in 2019. this price growth has strained renters'budgets. a common way to measure whether renters are cost burdened is whether they pay 30 percent or more of their income on rent. while wages have also risen during this time, in 2021, the percent of renters facing increasing cost burdens rose to 49 percent, up from 46 percent in 2019. these increased cost pressures underscore the importance of the federal reserve's efforts to fight inflation, which can complement efforts to address other factors affecting rent prices, including increasing the supply of rental housing. the rate of rent increases has come down from the extremes of 2021 as units built during the pandemic - era construction boom have begun to hit the market. however, the most recent data show that new lease prices remain more than 20 percent higher than they were before the pandemic. this means that the average renter signing a new lease in 2023 will pay over $ 200 more per month on rent than they would have in 2019. for single - family rental properties, the average listing costs even more, around $ 300 more per month on average for a new lease today as compared to just before the pandemic. these rent increases can be particularly challenging, given that renters have long faced difficulty with rent affordability. as of may, 65 percent of lower - income renters found it difficult to meet usual household expenses, 6 percentage points higher than in march but below peak levels from the summer of 2022. according to the board's 2022 survey of household economics and decisionmaking, 17 percent of renters were behind on their rent in the prior year, up from 10 percent in 2019. i look forward to learning more from the panelists and their research and experiences to understand how public policy can best address these issues. in our second panel, we will learn about promising approaches to address longer - term rental affordability issues. for example, how do state and local land -