possibility of excessive risk taking in the banking sector should not be neglected. faced with eroding margins in " old businesses ", banks may develop their activities in heretofore unexplored fields, by geographical expansion or by product development. in such circumstances, some banks may misjudge the risks inherent in the new activities, as a result of a lack of information, knowledge or skill. in such a situation, the prudential supervision of banks can help by assessing whether the capital buffers of banks remain sufficient for the banking sector as a whole. in financial markets, the issues are broadly similar. it is widely recognised that financial markets have been significantly transformed by the emergence of on - line brokers and electronic trading systems over recent years. in general, these developments have the potential to improve the functioning of financial markets. for example, on - line brokers often provide clients with detailed information regarding market conditions and the execution of orders. greater transparency on the part of brokers reduces the information asymmetry between brokers and customers. as a result, customers may be able to obtain better execution prices, not least because they can more easily see the prices quoted by various brokers. although the electronification of financial markets can bring benefits to customers, some risks are also associated with it. the first type of risk is by nature operational. advances in information and telecommunications technologies have made it easier than ever before to set up exchanges for financial products, for example on the internet. in the early stages of their development, the new trading systems need to be thoroughly tested so as to ensure maximum security. in particular, it is important for them to be able to withstand turbulent market conditions, including periods of exceptionally high trading activity and market volatility. the second kind of risk arises from the possibility of a disorderly segmentation of financial markets. as new trading systems are developed, the possibility exists that trading activity becomes spread over a number of exchanges. competition between exchanges is generally beneficial. however, customers may, at least over a transitory period, be faced with some difficulties in accessing the new exchanges. until the changeover is complete, customers may thus be unable to always obtain the best execution prices. in order to deal with this problem, it is important that the new exchanges establish clear rules regarding participation and price quotation as soon as possible in the process of starting their operations. finally, i would like to say a few words about electronic money. e - money is still

vitor constancio : the role of europe in global rebalancing speech by mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, at the expert seminar “ asia ’ s role in the global economy forum ”, organised by the official monetary and financial institutions forum ( omfif ), singapore, 12 july 2013. * * * ladies and gentlemen, i want to thank omfif, particularly david marsh, as well as all the organisers of this conference for inviting me to address you today. in discussions on global economic imbalances, the euro area often played a secondary role. academic debates about global imbalances prior to the crisis typically involved the united states and asia, with the euro area largely excluded as its aggregate current account was broadly in balance. and looking ahead, on the face of it, the same story is largely true. the policy debate is focused on how the global situation will develop in the presence of two counter - veiling forces : the united states likely moving away from its traditional role as the global “ spender of last resort ” ; and external surplus economies, notably in asia, still largely relying on an export - based growth model. the euro area, running a non - significant current account surplus, is seen as a largely neutral force. but this does not mean that what happens in the euro area is irrelevant for other regions. naturally, the euro area banking and sovereign debt crises have been a cause of concern for the world economy from the perspective of growth prospects and as a possible source of financial turbulence. and the international cooperation that is so vital for the health of the world economy implies that the three regions should achieve their internal balance with growth and low unemployment, maintaining at the same time a long term situation close to external balance. in the present globalized economy this cannot be achieved without cooperation on their macroeconomic policies. any set of policies implemented by the us, europe and asia that does not consistently corrects global macroeconomic imbalances is not sustainable and could lead to new crises. what i would like to do in my remarks today is to emphasise two specific channels where developments in the euro area could have an important impact on the global economy. channel one : rebalancing towards sustainable growth the first channel is related to the structural adjustment taking place within euro area economies which could, in time, correct the imbalances internal to the euro area thus overcoming a major european vulnerability allowing europe to make a contribution to