fadilj bajrami : ecb regional cooperation programme with central banks in the western balkans address by mr fadilj bajrami, vice governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, on the occasion of the third programme steering committee meeting of the ecb regional cooperation programme with central banks in the western balkans, pristina, 27 march 2015. * * * dear governor hamza, dear deputy governor gjoni, dear mr. fehlker, dear mr. chlad, representatives from central banks, ladies and gentlemen, i am glad to be here, in pristina, with you today, on the occasion of the third and final meeting of the steering committee, to officially mark the successful completion of the joint cooperation programme between the ecb and the national central banks of the eurosystem, on the one hand, and the central banks of the western balkans, on the other. the inclusion of the three central banks in this programme, which aims to strengthen their institutional capacity and align their operations with the central banking standards of the eu, is of enormous importance for the region, given the role of central banks in the eu accession process. namely, this regional approach of the ecb allows raising the level of compliance with the eu standards and policies, but also creates an opportunity to advance the cooperation between the central banks in the region and the central banks of the eu. therefore, i believe that the cooperation will continue in the same spirit and will further advance through other forms of cooperation in various central banking areas. concerning the nbrm, it is my pleasure to emphasize that with the ecb colleagues, we have jointly established the current progress of implementation of the recommendations from the needs assessment of the nbrm, and defined the follow - up steps. on this occasion, let me point out that the nbrm will remain committed to the implementation of the recommendations provided in the report, bearing in mind that many of them have already been incorporated in the nbrm strategic plan. hence, the further support of the ecb and the eurosystem in terms of experience and knowledge is of immense importance, as well as the assistance of our strategic partners, with whom we hope to continue working together on the implementation of the recommendations. eventually, allow me to express my gratitude to the ecb and other central banks of the eurosystem involved in the programme, as well as the hosts, hoping to have future opportunities to meet at similar

xolile p guma : south africa ’ s financial regulatory environment introductory remarks by dr xolile p guma, senior deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, at the launch of the september 2010 financial stability review, pretoria, 7 october 2010. * * * members of the press, guests and colleagues on behalf of the south african reserve bank, i would like to welcome you to the release of the september 2010 edition of the financial stability review. the bank has been publishing its financial stability review on a bi - annual basis since 2004, and this is the fourteenth publication of its kind. the financial stability review aims to identify and analyse potential risks to financial system stability, communicate such assessments and stimulate debate on pertinent issues. the bank recognises that it is not the sole custodian of financial system stability, but believes that it can contribute significantly towards a larger effort to achieve stability involving the government, other regulators, self - regulatory agencies and financial market participants. as a result of the recent global financial and economic crisis there have been considerable developments that have influenced, and quite radically changed, the theoretical thinking about financial stability and its integration with the other tasks of central banks. the extraordinary measures taken to resolve the most impaired financial systems have changed the thinking about a central bank ’ s role in financial crisis management. the very high fiscal cost of resolving the crisis and stimulating growth when it led to a global slowdown has also caused politicians to be more involved with the inevitable process of regulatory reform that has followed. several of the most affected jurisdictions have announced substantial changes to their financial regulatory policy processes and regulatory structures, and the manner in which these are integrated with monetary and macroeconomic policies. not only have more powers been given to some central banks to monitor and coordinate financial stability, but governments in some jurisdictions have chosen to oversee the process of resolving “ too big to fail ” financial institutions in future crises. common features of most of the thinking reflected in recent discussion forums, literature and structural changes are an increased emphasis on the formulation of macroprudential policy and tools, and a recommendation for the creation of an independent policy decision - making structure to help consider financial stability issues and integrate any necessary policy decisions with monetary policy. crucial to the approach to be developed by the bank is the concept of macroprudential policy. there have been many different attempts to define this concept and the bank for international settlements recently referred to “ an orientation or perspective of regulatory and supervisory arrangements that is systemic rather than