benchmark fixings. the gfxc drew attention to the possible consequences of these flows ahead of march quarter - end, 2 cautioning market participants to always be mindful of the impact of their transactions and to clearly understand how their orders are being handled. subsequent liaison suggested that market participants were attentive to the potential impacts. in some markets, participants looked to bring the timing of their flows forward of month - end. but while the fixings have generally proceeded smoothly, there have been occasions this year where the london 4pm fix has been associated with heightened volatility. this has prompted discussions – including amongst the gfxc and its member committees – about the fixing process. the gfxc is regularly engaging with the administrator of the w m / r fixes to relay any feedback from the committee and its members. i am encouraged by the increased engagement by them with market participants on the issues. at the same time, it remains as important as ever for users of the 4pm fix and other benchmarks 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches to regularly assess whether executing at those times suits their requirements. operation of fx markets more broadly, the covid lockdowns presented major operational challenges to fx market participants. these challenges were exacerbated by the market volatility, but even as market conditions stabilised, many of the operational challenges remained. however, the fx industry generally has been able to meet these challenges. a recent report issued by the gfxc summarised the experiences of both buy - side and sell - side market participants throughout this time. 3 broadly speaking, electronic trading proved effective and reliable. it is likely that the covid period will have only furthered the industry ’ s shift toward electronic trading. this includes the greater use of execution algorithms in many markets. from the gfxc ’ s perspective, the recent period has highlighted the importance of having common standards of industry practice. the abrupt change in market conditions that we witnessed this year also underscored the importance of transparency. as spreads widened, trade sizes were reduced and ‘ last look ’ rejection rates rose, clients needed to understand the implications of this for their activities. review of the fx global code while the code has certainly proven its value since it was introduced, the fx market is constantly evolving. when the code was launched in 2017, the gfxc committed to undertaking a review of the code every three years to ensure that its guidance remains appropriate and

are affecting households according to their stage in life. some indebted households appear to be taking advantage of low interest rates to pay down their debts faster than has been the norm, perhaps in response to weaker prospects for income growth. those relying on interest receipts may feel compelled to constrain their consumption in response to the relatively long period of very low interest rates. meanwhile, the search for yield is no doubt playing a role in driving the strong growth of investor housing credit. this might provide some indirect support to aggregate demand, but this channel is not without risk. from mid 2010 to mid 2012, about half of the decline in the dashed line in graph 9 owed to lower owneroccupier housing credit ( net of offset accounts ), but since then it has returned to about the same level as it was five years ago ( as a share of disposable income ). for further discussion of this issue, see connolly e, f fleming and j jaaskela ( 2012 ), ‘ households ’ s interestbearing assets ‘, rba bulletin, december, pp 23 ’ 32. bis central bankers ’ speeches in short, monetary policy is working. the transmission mechanism may have changed in some respects, and this could help to explain lower - than - expected growth of consumption and debt of late. but it is hard to be too definitive. to know more about this, it would be helpful to better understand the behaviours of different types of households using householdlevel data. to use a botanical analogy, to know more about a plant, it ’ s helpful to observe how its different types of cells work. bis central bankers ’ speeches