make the most of that time? unfortunately, not to a sufficient extent. yes, considerable efforts have been and are being made, and results are already visible. institutions have considerably improved their solvency and liquidity. some institutions have made, and are continuing to make, considerable efforts to restructure. but in many cases, unsustainable strategies have not yet been sufficiently adapted. in this context, i regard the criticism of allegedly over - strict regulation, which has recently become acceptable again, as problematic. i often have the impression that eight years were enough to suppress the memory of the crisis of the century. the challenges associated with the new, improved regulations are not new burdens. on the 2 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches contrary, the fact that risky business operations are now less lucrative for institutions, that they have to manage themselves more sustainably and develop durable internal risk management, is the result of legacy issues from times when regulation was too lax. complaining about this confuses cause and effect and distracts from the actual problems faced by the financial system. 4. new challenges in the midst of the economic climate change not all institutions have to struggle with old pre - crisis legacies to the same extent. some of them were doing solid business even before the crisis. nevertheless, these institutions are just as vulnerable to the new challenges. and these challenges are massive. in many cases, the excessive debate about the details of digitalisation, the low - interest - rate environment or other future challenges overlooks the fact that we are in the middle of an economic climate change. since i don ’ t intend to send you to sleep, i will just address the four most important aspects of this from the point of view of banks : namely, the risk of an economic downturn, demographic change, the low - interest - rate environment and digitalisation. there is much talk at the moment about whether the era of ever - increasing economic prosperity in industrialised countries is over. 1 this is a complex debate which is likely to affect each society differently. the essence from the point of view of financial institutions is that we in germany are currently still experiencing relatively comfortable economic activity by international standards, but that this could definitely slow down in the foreseeable future. at the moment, it is difficult to predict whether this will happen. but from the point of view of the banking sector, it is important to bear in mind that the present, very comfortable economic situation and the low credit default rates associated with

guarantee for individual sovereign debt. this step would increase the imbalance of integration i mentioned when i discussed the issue of a fiscal union. thus, what we need are balanced steps of integration such as those i have described in my speech. to be sure, these are all big steps, but in my view they are worth taking. a stable monetary union will eventually benefit all member states, including germany. this is a deep belief i hold, a belief that has even grown since my first week at the bundesbank. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches