recently in medium - to longer - term inflation expectations is a cause for extra vigilance. in short, the latest data on the euro area economy point to a continued but increasingly fragile recovery and the uncertainties and downside risks surrounding the recovery have intensified. all the while, we are facing continuously sluggish money and credit dynamics – even if growth rates of some key aggregates have edged up in recent months. consistent with this subdued picture, the latest ecb staff projections foresee growth and inflation to pick up only gradually. and, by the end of the projection horizon, annual hicp inflation is still expected to fall short of our target of a rate of inflation of below, but close to, 2 % over the medium - term. it was against this backdrop of a persistently weak inflation outlook, a slowing growth momentum, and subdued monetary and credit dynamics that we decided on a package of bis central bankers ’ speeches measures between june and october to provide further monetary policy accommodation and support lending to the real economy. impact of june - october policy decisions the policy announcements since june, together with the rate cuts, have already led to a further considerable easing of the effective monetary policy stance – although the liquidity injections via the tltros and purchase programmes will only gain pace in the coming months. this additional easing is evident from various metrics of the market - based cost of financing. since the beginning of june, forward money market rates have shown steep declines across the maturity spectrum. now, the forward curve consistently lies below zero over a two - year horizon. eonia is not expected to exceed 25bps before well into 2018. the 3 - month euribor rate, which is an important conduit of monetary policy impulses to lending rates, dropped to all - time lows and now stands close to zero. and the policy decisions, in particular those announced in september, triggered a compression of spreads across other asset classes, including abs, covered bonds and sovereign bonds. the recent sharp compression of abs spreads since june is particularly important. to the extent this compression of secondary market spreads is passed - through, this would support loan origination and promote credit flows at lower lending rates. as indicated, this market response has materialised although the lion ’ s share of the liquidity injection of the measures is yet to come. in september, we conducted only the first out of eight tltros. notably in december, counterparties will have another opportunity to participate in the t

are standards that apply throughout the financial system. we also recognize that, apart from changes in the regulatory and supervisory landscape, the banking industry itself has undergone major changes. for example, improvements in technology and changes in the financial industry ’ s composition between depository institutions and nondepository companies have altered the types of financial products and services that are offered by depository institutions, as well as how those services and products are accessed. we welcome your views on how these types of industry changes have impacted the effectiveness of our regulations. today i look forward to hearing your views on our agencies ’ regulations, especially in the categories of banking operations, capital, and the community reinvestment act ( cra ). for the federal reserve, these topics include regulations on the availability of funds ; the collection of checks and other items by the federal reserve banks and fund transfers through fedwire ; prompt corrective action procedures ; and the disclosure and reporting of cra - related agreements. bis central bankers ’ speeches i ’ d like to conclude by saying that we will consider your comments carefully as the agencies coordinate to discuss and consider the appropriate action that is likely to best serve our financial system and the interests of depository institutions and consumers. and when possible, the agencies will act to implement regulatory burden relief before the end of the egrpra review period. for example, in december of last year, congress passed legislation – which was supported by the federal reserve board – that would increase the consolidated asset limit for small bank holding companies from $ 500 million to $ 1 billion under the small bank holding company policy statement and that extends the same treatment to savings and loan holding companies of less than $ 1 billion. last thursday, the federal reserve issued for public comment both proposed and interim final rules for public comment that would implement that legislation. 1 the rules would reduce regulatory burden on small entities by excluding many bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies with total consolidated assets of less than $ 1 billion from the consolidated capital requirements. of course, regulatory capital requirements will continue to apply to the depository institution level. the rules also would reduce the burden of regulatory reporting for these companies. the federal reserve currently estimates that the proposed revisions to the small bank holding company policy statement would impact over 4, 200 organizations. the final results of our egrpra review will be contained in the agencies ’ report to congress that summarizes the issues raised and the agencies ’ conclusions about the need for regulatory or legislative changes. thank you