extreme complications the world economy is suffering from the see levine, r. ( 2005 ), “ finance and growth : theory and evidence ”, in p. aghion and s. durlauf ( eds. ), handbook of economic growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, p. p 865 – 934, the netherlands : north holland. commercial bank credit to the non - financial private sector as a proportion of gdp was 30. 4 percent in december 1994 and 13. 9 percent in september 2011. as of august 2011, the number of commercial bank branches was 11, 552, while the number of banking agents was 12, 260 ; a total of 41 percent of municipalities, accounting for 5. 4 percent of the total population, still did not have bank branches, atms or banking agents ; mexico counted 96. 4 million mobile phones and 19. 2 million fixed telephone lines. bis central bankers ’ speeches financial excesses that led to the global financial crisis. at the same time, regulation should not inhibit the innovation and flexibility necessary for the banking system to accomplish its mission. as i said, mexico has made substantial improvements on regulation and supervision. however, the agenda for financial authorities needs to embrace the further enhancement of micro - prudential standards for banks, such as capitalization and liquidity requirements ; macro - prudential measures to detect early systemic risk factors and counteract them ; and the design of an expedient bank resolution mechanism. 6 economic outlook during the third quarter of 2011, the mexican economy continued the process of recovery that began two years earlier. in particular, during july and august, the latest months for which full production data are available, the general indicator of economic activity ( igae ), a monthly gdp proxy, exhibited a year - on - year average rate of growth of 3. 8 percent, slightly higher than the corresponding figure in the previous quarter. even though in august the level of the igae surpassed that of june, different economic indicators suggest that the rebound is losing steam. for example, the increase in activity in july was followed by a contraction in august. this fall occurred both in the industrial and service sectors, which account for approximately 95 percent of total output. the lower activity was partly compensated for by a significant rise in agricultural production, mainly as a result of government support programs for re - sowing land after harvest losses due to bad weather in the first quarter of 2011. deceleration was clearer in

created that limits the governing council ’ s involvement in supervisory decisions. time will tell whether this structure truly helps to avoid conflicts of interest between monetary policy and banking supervision or whether it might have been better to create an independent banking supervisor. 4. conclusion ladies and gentlemen european banking supervision certainly represents the biggest step towards financial integration in europe since the launch of the euro. and, to me, it is the most logical step to bis central bankers ’ speeches take. single monetary policy requires integrated financial markets – which includes, without doubt, european - level banking supervision. and for anyone who has gained the impression that we have transferred responsibility for banking supervision to an institution with no previous experience of supervising banks, rest assured : that is not the case. national supervisors will continue to play an important role in supervision within the new system. for us, as national supervisors, this is an extremely exciting challenge. since colleagues from the bundesbank began taking part in the joint supervisory teams, our tasks and perspectives have been broadened substantially. i am sure that our national supervision will also benefit from the experience we gain by working in the joint european teams. and i firmly believe that european banking supervision will benefit from the involvement of national supervisors. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches