individual institutions proved insufficient. it has to go hand in hand with macroprudential oversight, which aims to identify systemic risk and regulatory loopholes at an early stage so that countermeasures can be taken swiftly. to achieve this, we need, in particular, to improve the underlying information and data – as the situation in the shadow banking system illustrates. in keeping with the international standards that are currently being elaborated, germany ’ s governing coalition proposed expanding the macroprudential oversight of the german financial system at its central bank. i understand that work is underway to draw up legislation based on this proposal – a development which i very much support. central banks are especially suited to the macroprudential aspects of financial supervision because they already have a duty to maintain a constant overview of market developments. as i ’ ve already mentioned, central banks are also aware of the side effects of regulatory initiatives. for example, central bank experts analysed the macroeconomic impact of the transition to basel iii in detail before it was adopted. 9 an extended study on the implications of the planned sifi capital surcharges provisionally concluded that they can be expected to have only a relatively small negative impact on economic growth beyond the planned implementation period. macroeconomic assessment group ( fsb / bcbs ), final report, assessing the macroeconomic impact of the transition to stronger capital and liquidity requirements, bank for international settlements ( december 2010 ) at http : / / www. bis. org / publ / othp12. htm. bis central bankers ’ speeches in my view, it is generally important to look beyond the traditional confines of supervision when addressing these issues. this applies, for example, to the question of how recent international regulatory initiatives are affecting the refinancing conditions of domestic banks. it is not only the credit rating agencies ’ assessments which suggest that factors specific to individual institutions – such as their capital, balance sheet structure and business models – are the primary influence on banks ’ individual financing costs. such factors tend to outweigh the effects not only of the macroeconomic setting, for example, but also of the costs caused by regulation. all in all, the large number of regulatory proposals, as well as their complexity and the rather unfinished nature of some initiatives, make it difficult to assess the overall picture. ultimately, however, the competitive situation and bank - specific factors are likely to be the decisive factors affecting banks ’ refinancing conditions. 5. closing remarks ladies and

of sdr. viii the activities of the imf and the world bank complement each other. they are not competing organizations. close cooperation between the imf and the world bank is particularly important when responding to crisis situations in order to avoid conflicting signals. we therefore welcome the ongoing efforts to improve cooperation between the two institutions. i would like to take this opportunity to thank management and staff of the imf and the world bank for their sometimes extremely difficult work during the past months. you may rest assured that germany will continue to attach great importance to the work of the imf and the world bank. finally, i am pleased to join my fellow governors in welcoming the republic of palau as a new member.