zdenek tuma : statistics – investment in the future welcome address by mr zdenek tuma, governor of the czech national bank, at the international conference “ statistics : investment in the future ”, organized by the czech national bank together with the czech statistical office and the prague university of economics, prague, 14 september 2009. * * * dear prime minister, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, i am very pleased that the czech national bank can host this conference in its premises. it is also our great pleasure to co - organize the conference together with the czech statistical office and the prague university of economics – it is the evidence of good, i even would say, above - average relationships between these three institutions. the international conference “ statistics : investment in the future ” we are opening by this plenary session is the second conference of this kind, organized five years after the first one. but this year ’ s venue is held in a rather different economic and financial environment compared to the previous conference. the whole world has been affected by the global financial crisis. let me say a few words about the impact of the financial crisis on our economy. in autumn last year the first signs of the global financial crisis were detected in the inter - bank market. the main cause was a lack of confidence among banks spreading from abroad, resulting in their preference to keep more liquidity than usual. in spite of the fact that there has long been a significant surplus of liquidity in the czech money market, this lack of confidence caused a deterioration of the proper functioning of the market. the czech national bank launched the liquidity - supplying facility in october 2008. czech government bonds were made eligible as collateral in these operations. this technical measure was aimed at limiting the potential spreading of problems from foreign financial markets to the czech financial sector. the situation calmed down at the end of 2008. overall, the financial crisis itself has had only a limited primary impact on the czech financial market due to its low exposure to toxic assets and focus on domestic business in local currency. nevertheless, the country was affected by an increase in risk aversion to the whole of central and eastern europe, due mainly to the problems of some countries which needed financing from abroad. the czech republic is among the countries that provide loans to some of them or participate in lending schemes organised by international institutions. the financial crisis has led to a significant decrease in global economic activity. as the czech economy is very open and export - oriented, the loss

the newspapers saying that such and such banks, finance companies and leasing companies are regulated by the central bank. do you know that immediately after our advertisements, we get many calls? the callers say, “ we have deposited our money in such and such institution. but, we don ’ t see its name in your list. is that institute regulated? ” when we say that such organization is not regulated, many get frightened. so you see, people take regulation seriously. people believe that if something is regulated, then there is some element of order that is brought into that system. we are well aware of this and therefore we take a lot of pains to fulfil the regulating task. we have a deputy governor in - charge who looks into all these aspects. we have the department of supervision of non - bank financial institutions that supervises finance companies. they take their jobs seriously. that is why they are organizing a seminar of this nature. today, the business world is continuously looking at risk and trying to figure out how to manage risk and hedge against risk. sometimes, unfortunately, some directors of finance companies think that they are immune from this risk. some of them say : “ we have a highly respected chairman ; we have a super ceo. we have entrusted the entire management to those wonderful persons ; they are very good ; they are well known ; they know their subject ; so therefore we can take it easy and relax. ” that appears to be their philosophy. if you think so, you may do that. but remember, you would be doing that at your own risk! you must realize that you are also fully responsible. it is the collective board that will be held accountable. recently, you may have recently seen some advertisements that were placed by the failed finance companies commission, summoning all the directors, in the course of their inquiry. they have not said, “ we will summon only the chairmen and ceos of the failed finance companies ”. no. they have summoned all. that is perfectly correct because every director is responsible. so, each one of you too, will be responsible in the future with regard to your company. that is why we have invited eminent professionals to come and explain to you, your duties and responsibilities. sometimes, directors may not really appreciate their responsibilities and they may be quite comfortable about leaving key decisions to their colleagues, whom they trust implicitly. maybe, you may comfortably place your trust in them, and indeed you may think you are entitled to do