price. all in all, the focus on our core activities has enabled us to cut the number of employees, which at present is about 450. this can be compared with a figure between 15, 000 and 16, 000 for the bundesbank or the banque de france. in relation to the population, the corresponding number for the riksbank would be almost 2, 500. bear in mind, too, that many of our functions have little or nothing to do with the size of the population. strength and security as a newcomer i found that in certain respects the riksbank resembled a traditional swedish industrial estate. those establishments were stable and often highly professional in their field, which might be high - grade steel or paper ; but they also tended to be run autocratically and resist change. central banks have also lived a closed existence, with a corporate spirit that was both good and bad. this is something that has to be renounced to enable us to perform our tasks properly and both attract and retain the best university graduates. an open internal dialogue with management is needed to promote an informal exchange of ideas. taking responsibility and meeting deadlines must also be rewarded. it is easy to say that some mistakes are acceptable provided things get done but that attitude is by no means customary in a central bank. last but not least, we must have an open attitude to the outside world, accept impulses and explain what we are doing. so what have we done in recent years to make the riksbank a more modern place to work in? here are some examples : · we have aimed for a better organisation by making it flatter and delegating more to heads of department and division. that in turn means that general objectives and tasks must be formulated clearly for all concerned so that everyone is aware they are not just piling stones on top of each other but actually helping to build a cathedral. · we have accentuated the analytical and academic profile. our advisers are world - class academics and members of the staff have access to further education in sweden as well as abroad. we have also made the basic operations more efficient. · another aim has been to give staff a more flexible working life. working from home should be simple and everything should function properly even when a senior official is at home looking after children. staffing therefore has to be arranged with this in mind. we are also having a drive for more women in managerial posts. last year we started a mentor programme for female administrators with a view

william c dudley : title ii resolution, a useful tool but not a panacea remarks by mr william c dudley, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the 2013 resolution conference “ planning for the orderly resolution of a global systemically important bank ”, washington dc, 18 october 2013. * * * the topic of how systemically important financial institutions ( sifis ) will be resolved is a very important subject. as we saw during the financial crisis, the failure of lehman brothers generated huge shocks across the global financial system that led to a deep global downturn. that is not an acceptable regime and i am very glad we are working hard to change it. i thank the organizers for giving me the opportunity to make some short remarks. today, i ’ m going to take a somewhat broader view than some of the other speakers, focusing on two issues : • some outstanding questions about how the “ single point of entry ” strategy under the title ii resolution regime would work in practice. • how the resolution regime fits within the broader supervisory agenda of ending “ too big to fail ” and making the financial system more resilient and robust. as always, what i have to say today reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the federal reserve system. the first point i ’ d make is that i very much endorse the single point of entry framework for resolution as proposed by the federal deposit insurance corporation ( fdic ). i think it is the best plan for implementing title ii given the complexity and scope of large, global financial institutions and i also think it is well - suited to the u. s. bank holding company framework. by assigning losses to shareholders and unsecured creditors of the holding company and transferring sound operating subsidiaries to a new solvent entity, such a “ top - down ” resolution strategy will facilitate continuity for the critical services performed by the firm ’ s subsidiaries. this will reduce the costs associated with the failure of the parent company and reduce the degree of disruption to financial markets and financial stability. while the title ii single point of entry strategy holds tremendous promise, i think it is important not to declare victory prematurely. first, there are still significant issues about how the resolution of a large systemically complex firm would work in practice. second, even assuming that our efforts to overcome these challenges are ultimately fully successful, resolution is still likely to represent a “ second best ” outcome compared to preventing a systemically important financial institution from failing in the