facilities remained appropriate. in light of this, the bank announced in november 2014 that broker - dealers and ccps would be eligible to apply for access to the smf. and some of these institutions have indeed formally signed up in recent months. another recent, major change to the smf was the reform to the bank ’ s iltr operations in february 2014. these auctions offer reserves at lower prices and for a longer maturity against a wider range of collateral than had been the case previously. and the auctions are responsive to market conditions, with the amount of liquidity available rising automatically if there is greater demand. reflecting the improved financial positions of banks and building societies, and the liquidity provided to the market through qe, the bank ’ s liquidity insurance facilities saw relatively modest usage over the year covered by the most recent annual report. more recently, however, usage has increased, as banks sought to make use of the liquidity insurance provision on offer by pre - emptively securing term funding ahead of a bis central bankers ’ speeches period of potential uncertainty around key events, such as the uk general election, and greece. this pattern of usage is encouraging and welcome, as it demonstrates that banks are prudently managing their liquidity position ahead of potential risks, and that the iltr is an active part of their liquidity management. despite the increase, however, demand has remained relatively low, with just over £4 billion allocated in the may operation : a high water mark for the expanded iltr operation. looking back to 2007, before the crisis, the cumulative changes we have made to the smf have been transformative. the smf now has 164 members, more than double the number signed up in 2007, with banks and building society smf members accounting for 98 % of total sterling deposits. the drawable value of collateral delivered to the bank for actual or potential use in the bank ’ s facilities has increased dramatically, and stood at £327. 4 billion at endjune 2015. and the bank now has a comprehensive set of market wide and bilateral facilities. these developments give the bank tremendous flexibility to support financial institutions during periods of stress. as you will see from the fpc ’ s published record, it was in that context that the bank decided to announce two additional iltr operations in the event of a “ yes ” vote in the referendum on scottish independence, as a precautionary measure to backstop sterling market liquidity. as part of its conting

jan frait : twenty years of financial stability at the czech national bank opening remarks by mr jan frait, deputy governor of the czech national bank, at the czech national bank workshop on financial stability and macroprudential policy, prague, 17 december 2024. * * * we meet here today – first of all – to celebrate 20 years of financial stability at the czech national bank ( cnb ). in may 2004, the cnb board endorsed the key features of our financial stability function : its mandate and objective, the definition of financial stability, the content of financial stability analyses and the meaning of macroprudential policy. it also announced the foundation of a financial stability team in the research department. it is not easy to find traces of the original decision in the public domain. we were a bit secretive about it at the time. this was because there wasn't full support in the board for this strange thing called " macroprudential ". there was also limited support for it in the regulation and microprudential supervision departments back then. as a matter of fact, i revealed that we had set up a financial stability function to a local audience in january 2005 at the earliest, in my presentation on the conclusions of the 2004 financial stability report. this presentation was only published in czech, as we did not think anyone would be interested – except for the bank for international settlements ( bis ), which had the same idea on its agenda. you may ask why the board decided to establish a financial stability function anyway. one reason was a severe banking crisis that had occurred between 1997 and 2000, which had its roots in macroeconomic mismanagement, among other things. the other – and potentially more important – factor was the influence of certain bis economists that some of us admired. the bis chief economist william white had given an impressive lecture in this congress centre in 2003. that may have been the lucky breaking point. just as a matter of interest, in may 2004 the cnb adopted the following definition of financial stability : a situation in which the financial system ( a ) fulfils its functions without disturbances and negative effects on the present and future development of the economy, and ( b ) at the same time shows a high degree of resilience to adverse shocks. this definition is still in place after 20 years. simply perfect right off the bat. one more important thing happened 20 years ago. in may 2004, the government approved a plan to integrate the then fragmented supervision of the