this requires the ability to measure ( and model ) the potential costs and to calibrate the plausibility and importance of the various risks. the third component is the possible policy response that needs to be clearly justified and interlinked with systemic risk assessments. in particular, it should inform policy decisions on the appropriate timing of interventions and the selection of tools. the role that the ecb and the national central banks of the eu member states play in contributing to financial stability is set out in the treaty on european union. in the wording of the treaty, the ecb is requested to contribute to the smooth conduct of policies pursued by the competent authorities with respect to the prudential supervision of credit institutions and the stability of the financial system. furthermore, the ecb ’ s financial stability function is also related to its responsibility for overseeing financial market infrastructures. the legal framework under which the ecb collects statistical data has in fact recently been extended to expressly recognise its powers to collect data for this purpose. bis central bankers ’ speeches in 2011 the eu institutional framework was revised to explicitly address both macro and micro - prudential supervision. this led to the establishment of the european system of financial supervision, the three new european supervisory authorities ( esas ) and the european systemic risk board ( esrb ). the ecb is in charge of providing analytical and statistical support to the esrb, notably by collecting and processing information that feeds into discussions within the esrb. 1 3. what has been achieved so far? in recognition of an increasingly interconnected financial system, considerable progress is being made in the enhancement and development of new statistics at the euro area, eu and global level. at the euro area level, improvements in ecb statistics are notable with regard to, in particular, the development of enhanced statistics relating to monetary financial institutions ( mfis ) and to shadow banking ( e. g. securitisation vehicles ). the securities holdings statistics can also contribute to providing a better picture of interconnectedness at the financial system level and for sectors of the euro area economy. in the same vein, the new centralised securities database of the european system of central banks that holds complete and consistent reference information on individual securities is a major step in the direction of a better understanding of the map of cross - exposures through securities holdings. further work on enhancing statistical sources and output has been carried out in recent years. a high priority has been given to the development, collection and maintenance of conceptual

hard to determine which – if either – of the two things has happened. and that brings me to the second point, which is that we cannot be sure whether we are measuring slack correctly in the first place. the unemployment rate, for instance, is based on a narrow definition. just think of people who work part - time. officially, they are employed, but they could work more, of course. so, the amount of slack could be larger than we think. if that is the case, it ’ s no surprise that inflation has not kicked in. that said, the economy is still expanding and, at some point, any remaining slack will be used up. as a consequence, pressure on wages will increase, and we are indeed already seeing wages edging up. wage growth increased from 1. 1 % in mid - 2016 to 1. 8 % in the fourth quarter of 2017. in germany, wages even grew at 2. 7 % in the first quarter of 2018. this, in turn, will prompt inflation to pick up. so i believe that all we need is a bit of patience. all the conditions for inflation to kick in are in place. so, june might be the month to decide once and for all to gradually end net asset purchases by the end of this year. but please do not misunderstand me here : i am just referring to the net purchases. there is still the stock of assets we have already bought. and we will still reinvest any proceeds from maturing bonds. just to put it in perspective : each month we buy assets worth €30 billion. this compares with a stock of assets worth €2, 400 billion. what i want to say is this : even when we end net purchases, monetary policy will still be extraordinarily accommodative. and, at the same time, other tools will remain in place. the eurosystem has, for instance, committed to granting banks unlimited access to liquidity against a wider range of collateral. with our targeted longer - term refinancing operations, we provided credit institutions with funding for up to four years. finally, interest rates are still historically low and will remain so for some months to come. a first hike around the middle of 2019 is not entirely out of the ballpark. so, we are slowly but surely moving towards the exit. this is the next big thing to happen. but it will not be the end of the story, let alone the end