. the annual rate of decline in loans to non - financial corporations was – 1. 4 % in november, after – 1. 5 % in october. the annual growth in mfi lending to households also remained broadly unchanged at 0. 7 % in november. to a large extent, subdued loan dynamics reflect the current stage of the business cycle, heightened credit risk and the ongoing adjustment in the balance sheets of households and enterprises. in order to ensure adequate transmission of monetary policy to the financing conditions in euro area countries, it is essential to continue strengthening the resilience of banks where needed. the soundness of banks ’ balance sheets will be a key factor in facilitating both an appropriate provision of credit to the economy and the normalisation of all funding channels. decisive steps for establishing an integrated financial framework will help to accomplish this objective. the future single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ) is one of the main building blocks. it is a crucial move towards re - integrating the banking system. to sum up, the economic analysis indicates that price developments should remain in line with price stability over the medium term. a cross - check with the signals from the monetary analysis confirms this picture. other economic policy areas will need to make further contributions to ensure a firm stabilisation of financial markets and an improvement in the outlook for growth. further structural reforms should be rapidly implemented to make the euro area a more flexible, dynamic and competitive economy. in particular, product market reforms to increase competition and competitiveness are essential, accompanied by measures to improve the functioning of labour markets. such reforms will boost the euro area ’ s growth potential and employment and improve the adjustment capacities of the euro area countries. they will also add further momentum to the progress being made with regard to unit labour costs and current account imbalances. as regards fiscal policies, the recent significant decline in sovereign bond yields should be bolstered by further progress in fiscal consolidation in line with the commitments under the stability and growth pact. we are now at your disposal for questions. bis central bankers ’ speeches

are typically quite set in their payment habits. furthermore, like all networks, there are positive externalities the more participants there are. that is, as more financial institutions offer fast payments and the reach of the system grows, it provides greater value to both individuals and businesses. if none of my family and friends can receive payments through the npp i am less likely to sign up for an alias and use it. but the more people i can pay using the system ( and the more people i can receive money from ) the higher value i get from the system. 4 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches third, as noted earlier, the system has been set up to encourage the development of commercial ‘ overlays ’ using the real - time payment capability to deliver value - added services to consumers and businesses. aside from the additional osko services in prospect, possible overlays might include services for superannuation, e - invoicing and motor vehicle sales. i am sure there are many innovative minds turning to the possibilities. this brings me to an issue that has caused some concern among potential new players in this space – access to the npp. they observe that the system has been built by the financial institutions and is governed by a board made up of those institutions, including the four major banks. they worry that these institutions will either make participation very difficult or costly or, alternatively, will have the inside running on developing and launching commercial overlay services. i think there are a few reasons to be optimistic that access will not be an issue. to begin with, as i noted earlier, the npp is a utility. it is aiming to cover costs, not make a profit. further, given that many of its costs are fixed, it is in the interests of npp australia ( nppa ) to get as many payments through the system as possible to lower the per - transaction cost. the structure of the board and the constitution also provide some protection. the board is comprised of eight participant financial institutions ( the four major banks plus four elected representatives of smaller institutions ), two independent non - executive directors ( of which one is chair ) plus a director representing the reserve bank. each director has one vote and the constitution notes that an objective of nppa is to promote the public interest, including through fair access. but it is also worth noting that the npp at its core is an infrastructure that facilitates clearing of payment messages between financial institutions and settlement of those obligations across accounts at the reserve bank