is already working towards that goal. 3. some thoughts on the most recent backslide on the financial markets i could have closed my speech with this rather positive outlook not even two weeks ago. however, since then the crisis has again raised its head, this time exposing the weak position of government budgets in some euro - area countries. at first sight, the current problems seem to be rather different from what we experienced during the financial crisis. however, a second glance reveals that the underlying causes are quite similar, and so are the remedies. just like the financial crisis itself, the current problems can be traced back to a limited number of factors. first, a credit boom due to lower interest rates once the countries in question had joined the euro area. second, insufficient or totally absent risk management in economic policy, which should have been much more countercyclical. and third, the stability and growth pact was not applied as strictly as it should have been, or was weakened by questionable accounting practices and faulty statistics. given these similarities with the root causes of the financial crisis, the responses of economic policy are similar, too. the first challenge has been to stabilise the situation. the relevant steps towards that goal were taken by the eurosystem and the ecofin ten days ago. in particular, the commitment of fiscal policy to stepping up frontloaded consolidation efforts shows the will of the member states to tackle the current crisis at its root. what must follow are structural reforms in a similar vein to those that i have just described with regard to the financial sector. it is essential to strengthen the existing fiscal rules to prevent individual countries from running into budgetary difficulties. relevant proposals to enhance the stability and growth pact have already been put forward. they could be complemented by national fiscal rules similar to the national debt brake in germany. in addition, we might – over the medium - term – also think about devising mechanisms to limit the systemic impact of sovereign debt crises that might still occur. however, particular caution is warranted in this regard given that adverse incentive effects would most likely be even more severe than in the financial sector. for example, a permanently available support scheme would only exacerbate these problems and therefore should not be a policy option. 4. conclusion ladies and gentlemen three years into the crisis, the necessity for a reform of financial regulation has been well understood at a global level. until now, a number of relevant proposals have been put forward by international bodies such as the financial

not satisfactory as suggested by the number of complaints against insurers ’ operations received by the national bank of serbia through its centre for financial services consumer protection. the analysis of those complaints has shown that the majority relate to none other than automobile liability insurance. without going into further analysis, we may also say that this was rather expected as this type of insurance is by far the most common in the market. however, different conclusions may be drawn when one compares the market share of automobile liability insurance and the share of complaints against insurers ’ operations in this field which currently stands at as much as 62 %. furthermore, majority of complaints in the first half of 2010 related, quite unexpectedly, to late payment of damage claims, amount of compensation offered and the refusal to pay the indisputable damage. though not too high ( 58 ), the number of such complaints is rising, which points to inadequate practice contrary to the new law. in the long run, this is certainly not in the interest of either the damaged parties or the insurers, and will surely hinder the development of the insurance market. in view of the objectives of the new law, most notably those regarding efficient payment of compensation and adequate protection of damaged parties, we believe this to be the right moment to discuss the issues of damage compensation at professional gatherings such as this one. such consultations should and can give a significant contribution to establishing fair practice in the insurance sector. i believe that this conference will provide an important contribution in this respect. and finally, i wish you all a lot of success in your work.