a commercial approach in the rigor of their investment analysis and monitoring, they are not always fully commercial in the sense of trying to maximise profit. the dutch involvement in microfinance has not been left to chance. on the contrary, already in 1997 the first effort was made to co - ordinate microfinance activities by several co - financing agencies ( cordaid, hivos, interchurch organisation for development co - operation and novib ) and their main funder the ministry of foreign affairs. with the growing involvement of other private and commercial organisations in microfinance there was a need to include a larger and more diverse group of actors in this initiative. so, in january 2003 thirteen organisations agreed to formalise their efforts to co - ordinate and work together. they jointly established the netherlands platform for microfinance. dutch organisations that support the microfinance sectors in developing countries through investments or subsidies can join. since its establishment the platform has grown to comprise fifteen organisations. to give you some idea of what the platform does : in 2005 the platform invested over eur 360 million in the form of loans, equity investments, guarantees, seed capital and subsidies ; this is up more than 50 % from the eur 225 million in 2004! these investments reached more than 550 organisations in 78 countries that offer financial services to poor people, ranging from community - based organisations, cooperatives, non - governmental organisations, banks and other financial institutions. a large share of this money has been invested in latin america, followed by asia, central and eastern europe. surprisingly, africa has the lowest share ( around 12 % ). the west still seems to lack the commitment to truly help this continent forward. the distribution over the four regions has by and large remained steady over the last three years. this reflects the fact that in general microfinance markets have matured, especially in latin america, compared to the development of the sector on the african continent. but, although the market for microfinance is growing and more and more organisations are supporting this development, there remain important challenges for the future. challenges for the future – by way of conclusion if we truly wish to succeed in providing microfinance services to the poor on a large scale, further contributions are desperately needed. this is not only an issue of financing. regulators and governments, in particular, need to develop legal and regulatory frameworks for microfinance, consumer protection, and financial infrastructure. also prudential supervisors – and as a

thomas jordan : low interest rates – blessing or curse? summary of a speech by mr thomas jordan, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the delegiertenversammlung des hev schweiz, santis, 19 june 2009. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * monetary policy uses low interest rates to try and stimulate demand as a way of combating the economic crisis. the property market is an important transmission channel in this regard, as low mortgage rates provide direct relief to home owners and tenants in the form of lower interest payments and rents. this provides households with greater room for manoeuvre in consumption and investment. this in turn boosts overall economic demand and economic growth. however, despite these direct positive effects, a low level of interest rates can also pose medium - term risks for the stability of the swiss property market, and hence the financial system. the past has repeatedly shown that prolonged periods of low interest rates can lead to speculation on property markets, and to declining standards in mortgage lending. the challenge in today ’ s difficult environment is how to boost the economy through low interest rates without creating medium - term risks for the stability of the financial system and the property market. responsible behaviour on the part of home owners, combined with bank discipline when granting loans, can contain these risks. households should buy property only if they would also be able to afford it if interest rates increased. moreover, they should finance their house purchase with a sufficient proportion of equity. equity acts as a cushion, absorbing movements in property prices. in addition, banks should use discipline in lending practices, even in an environment of low interest rates. the prime considerations when granting loans should be the observance of maximum loan - to - value ratios and a conservative valuation of property.