fluctuations in other asset classes, in addition to the correlation between futures prices and the prices of underlying assets, could affect the risk transfer and price discovery functions of futures markets. in this sense as well, it is important to not only increase the number of market players but also gather a diverse set of investors with various investing styles and investment horizons. i hope an increasingly wider range of investors and greater investor diversity would continue to be observed. concluding remarks i have so far elaborated on new trends in futures markets brought about by significant environmental changes since the global financial crisis and the challenges brought by those trends, focusing on three perspectives : ( 1 ) tightening of financial regulations ; technological innovation ; and ( 3 ) increased use of futures for asset management. none of the challenges i mentioned today would be easy to tackle, but i believe that the functions of futures markets, which have offered benefits to financial markets for many years, would develop and be maintained if market participants take on these challenges and adapt to the new environment, just as they have done over the last 30 years. the bank of japan obtains information from futures markets that is valuable in understanding the markets'views and sentiment toward the economy and corporate performance. the bank, as the central bank of japan, would provide support through research studies and participation in discussions at home and abroad so that japanese futures markets would develop in a more efficient and stable manner. thank you for your attention.

bis central bankers ’ speeches in this regard, some market participants have mistakenly assumed that the bank ’ s commitment to stabilizing short - term interest rates weakened because the bank changed its main operating target from the uncollateralized overnight call rate to the monetary base. however, the bank ’ s commitment to maintaining short - term interest rates at a low level by generating a massive amount of financial institutions ’ excess reserves has not changed at all. purchases of medium - to long - term jgbs amounting to about 50 trillion yen at an annual pace alone are not sufficient to meet the policy guideline of increasing the monetary base at an annual pace of about 60 - 70 trillion yen. therefore, it is implied that to fill the gap the bank will purchase a certain amount of treasury discount bills ( t - bills ) and / or conduct short - term funds - supplying operations. the scale of t - bill purchases is not mentioned in the guideline for money market operations, because the policy board members consider that, given the experience of comprehensive monetary easing, the provision of short - term funds should be left to the discretion of the bank ’ s staff, so that it can respond flexibly to potential fluctuations in short - term interest rates. when the bank announced immediately after the mpm held on april 3 and 4 that it would introduce qqe and aim to achieve the price stability target of around 2 percent in about two years, market participants anticipated that short - term interest rates two years ahead might not be around 0 percent, and this affected medium - to long - term interest rates. such a phenomenon may be observed again. on this issue, i expect that the effects of the automatic adjustment function of qqe will emerge and financial markets will be able to cope with price developments on their own. to elaborate on this, once the probability of achieving the 2 percent price stability target rises, this will inevitably be incorporated in medium - to longterm interest rates to some extent ; on the other hand, if the probability of achieving the target remains low, such interest rates will continue to be contained. the important point is that the bank should contain the level of medium - to long - term interest rates at a level below that consistent with market participants ’ outlook for economic activity and prices by proceeding with jgb purchases and lowering risk premiums. so far, massive jgb purchases by the bank have contained various factors that have exerted upward pressure on interest rates, and the effect of reducing risk premium