cbbh 3rd research conference challenges for central banks in low interest rate environment introductory speech by cbbh governor dr. senad softic, sarajevo 05. november 2020. ladies and gentlemen, dear fellow central bankers, it is my great pleasure to welcome you all at the 3rd research cbbh conference under the title : challenges for central banks in low interest rate environment. a i s you know our first two research conferences were a success and we hope this one will be as well. this conference is taking place in very special circumstances. unfortunately the impact of covid - 19 pandemic does not allow us to get together, show our hospitality and beautiful town and the country. let ’ s hope that the next conference will be held in better time. we believe it is important to keep this tradition to promote the dialogue between policy makers and academic community on topics of special relevance for the central bank of bosnia and herzegovina. ii this year, our focus is on low interest rate environment, and the challenges it brings for the central banks in macroeconomic terms. the decline in long - term risk free nominal interest rates started in the late 1990s. short - term nominal interest rates fell sharply after the crisis of 2007 / 2008 and have remained at lower bound ever since. with nominal rates at historically low levels, negative yields are recorded on some of the sovereign debt of several eurozone members. a flatter yield curve reduces the incentive for banks to undertake maturity transformation. liquidity is high, while the lending activity, and in some cases economic activity, is not too impressive. and on top of that, this year we are faced with devastating consequences of corona - virus pandemic. in march and april the world economy has faced serious shock with lock down of economies. imf called it the great lockdown. both supply and demand collapsed and we all will be facing negative growth this year. it is likely to have a long shadow on global economy, implying even greater challenges for the central banks. the fiscal dominance arguments are bound to strengthen, as the central banks are bound to increasingly rely on the non - conventional monetary policy tools and instruments. at least those that have the legal mandates to do so. until recently it was conventional wisdom that when nominal interest rates are close to zero we face so called liquidity trap and monetary policy cannot stimulate the economy any more. today as several major central banks are using negative interest rates we know this is not true. iii cbbh is not banking regulator and supervisor, but we do

christopher kent : securitisation and the housing market address by mr christopher kent, assistant governor ( financial markets ) of the reserve bank of australia, to the australian securitisation forum conference, sydney, 26 november 2018. * * * i thank emma doherty, kate fernandes and eden hatzvi for invaluable assistance in preparing these remarks. introduction good afternoon, and thank you to the australian securitisation forum for their invitation. it ’ s a pleasure to be here. today i ’ ll provide an update on developments in the markets for housing and housing credit. these markets are closely related and both are of considerable interest to those that issue and those that invest in australian residential mortgage - backed securities ( rmbs ). along the way, i ’ ll make use of data on residential mortgages from rmbs that are eligible for repurchase operations with the reserve bank. 1 among other things, these data are a useful source of timely information on interest rates actually paid, loan by loan. as i ’ ll demonstrate, this allows us to infer something about shifts in the supply of, and demand for, housing credit, thereby shedding some light on the different forces driving these markets. with this background in mind, i ’ ll also review some recent developments in the rmbs market. and i ’ ll finish by taking the opportunity to emphasise that rmbs issuers and investors should be prepared for any future changes in the use and availability of benchmark interest rates. interactions between the housing market and the market for housing credit as highlighted recently in a speech by the deputy governor, the markets for housing and housing credit are going through a period of significant adjustment. 2 after years of strong growth, housing prices have been declining nationally, driven by falls in melbourne and sydney over the past year. also, there has been a noticeable decline in investor credit growth and an easing in owneroccupier credit growth. the cycles in the growth of overall housing prices and investor credit have moved together quite closely over the past few years ( graph 1 ). 1 / 16 bis central bankers'speeches underpinning these changes, there have been shifts in the demand for, and supply of housing, as well as in the demand for, and supply of, housing credit. credit supply affecting housing demand the links between these two markets run in both directions, from housing credit to the housing market, and from the housing market to housing credit. of late, the story more commonly