is important for the ecb, as they affect the transmission of our monetary policy across the euro area. they require parallel efforts on many different fronts. but a common thread is the need to enhance the contribution of the financial sector, in particular by taking significant steps towards a capital markets union in europe. integrated capital markets are at the heart of building resilience, because they encourage europeans to invest in debt and equity irrespective of home country considerations. that, in turn, helps share the costs of local recessions, because financial losses in one part of the union can 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches be offset by gains in another. scale and depth matter, as does a common regulatory framework. at present, however, financial markets are less integrated in the euro area than in other large economies. only around 20 % of shocks in the euro area were mitigated through cross - border debt and equity holdings between 1999 and 2016, compared with at least 60 % in the united states. 3 capital markets are also vital to fund the transformation of our economies. we need to see investment of around €330 billion every year by 2030 to achieve europe ’ s climate and energy targets4, and around €125 billion every year to carry out the digital transformation. 5 while banks can and should provide a good share of this funding, capital markets can provide innovative tools to close the investment gap. capital markets are better suited to financing projects with a defined purpose, directly linking investors to the impact they intend to achieve. and they are also better at drawing retail investors towards supporting transformative activities. 6 although we are making progress, thanks to the work of the commission, completing a fullyfledged cmu will take time. capital markets have developed nationally, so we first have to open them up and harmonise those markets in order to integrate them further. this begs the question : how do we deepen capital markets faster? are there market segments where fewer obstacles exist and where we can achieve high levels of integration quickly, but that also encourage the funding of future - oriented projects? developing european green capital markets to my mind, europe ’ s green capital markets meet all these criteria. green capital markets are dynamic and growing in europe, and they are already relatively well integrated. this means that as they deepen further, so will europe ’ s resilience. europe is established as the location of choice for green bond issuance, with around 60 % of all green senior unse

shamshad akhtar : reflections on global and domestic developments speech by dr shamshad akhtar, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the formal launching of samba bank ltd. in pakistan, karachi, 1 november 2008. * * * year 2008 is and will be remembered as one of the most turbulent years in world ’ s economic history. impact of the sequence of global events, ranging from global financial market turmoil to surge in global commodity prices, has impacted regions differently and unevenly. united states being the epicenter of the tsunami of financial market upheaval, has witnessed deeper and steeper reverberations whose tremors have impacted all of europe. from what started as turmoil in one segment of financial markets i. e. subprime mortgage market and the cdos etc., which constituted a very small part of the global financial assets, the ravaging fire has spread across all segments of financial sector, and across continents. flight to safety also put pressure on commodity prices which appeared to be an alternate avenue to hedge investors from financial market upheavals. financial markets ’ indulgence in over - leveraging and reckless issuance of mortgage securities without due diligence, with resetting of pricing in a rising interest rate environment, overwhelmed both the issuer and the investor. major money and interbank markets witnessed liquidity crunch as counterparties faced settlement difficulties and defaulted, adversely impacting credit markets. the problem magnified as the global liquidity crisis eventually hurt global financial institutions that one after the other collapsed under the stress. this was marked by falling share prices of financial institutions, rising cost of funding and credit default protection, and depressed asset prices. from a liquidity crisis, world financial markets faced a host of insolvency of global financial houses as the deleveraging gained momentum. amidst all this, equity markets fell across continents and lost sizeable market capitalization with severe wealth effects at both industry and household levels. financial markets and housing problems have significantly impacted global economic outlook that is now expected to slow down to 3 % with advanced economies already in recession. central bankers and regulators have been now firefighting for over 15 odd months. aside from the steady easing of monetary policy, liquidity injections of unprecedented levels through offers of rounds of term facilities and specialized arrangements, and taking off illiquid securities off the financial institutions ’ books etc., to a range of fiscal tax breaks and financial market revival packages that aim to rec