benoit cœure : interview with france info interview with mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, and france info, conducted by mr jean leymarie on 9 april 2018 and published on 10 april 2018. * * * we are still seeing growth in europe, there is certainly growth, but it seems increasingly clear that it is slowing down. does that worry you? i don ’ t think we are seeing a slowdown in growth. this is something that we monitor very closely, we follow all the indicators. we are seeing indicators that had risen to very, very high levels, levels that had not been seen for many years, in some cases 10 or 15 years. and these indicators are now undergoing a slight correction that was fairly inevitable, as there comes a point when growth stops accelerating and stabilises on a certain trajectory. moreover, this was already incorporated in our forecasts. so we will not be revising our forecasts at present as a result of this correction. i can ’ t speak for the future – we will continue to monitor these developments – but, for now, it ’ s a stabilisation, and it ’ s not something that particularly concerns us. could it result in a change in your monetary policy? no, for the reasons i have just given. again, i ’ m not going to speak for the future, since everything is completely dependent on the data we receive on an ongoing basis. but monetary policy follows a long - term trajectory, one that requires patience. we know that monetary policy will need to remain very accommodative for quite some time. just to remind our listeners : there is, in particular, the huge asset purchase programme you launched three years ago, which has involved buying public and private sector securities for the vast sum of €2, 500 billion. when are you going to end this programme? that is a discussion that we will certainly be having soon, since the programme is currently proceeding at a monthly pace of €30 billion until at least september. we haven ’ t said any more than that. so, we ’ ll need to have a discussion fairly soon about what comes next … will it have come to a stop by the end of the year? i don ’ t know yet, because the governing council of the ecb has not yet discussed it, let alone reached a decision. but the discussion is not just about asset purchases, it ’ s also about the right combination of

peter praet : fixed income investment of insurance companies and pension funds in a low yield – but volatile – environment speech by mr peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the 2011 european pension funds congress during the 14th euro finance week, frankfurt am main, 15 november 2011. * * * i would like to thank jurgen kirchoff, torsti silvonen and stefan wredenborg for their contributions to the preparation of this keynote speech as well as michel colinet and kajal vandenput for their helpful comments and all members of the cgfs working group on fixed income strategies of insurance companies and pension funds for the preparation of its report. ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to speak here at the european pension funds congress in frankfurt, which forms an important part of the 14th euro finance week. earlier this year i was asked to chair a global working group with participating central banks from north america, europe and asia for the so - called committee on the global financial system, cgfs, which works under the bank for international settlement. our aim was to assess how the regulatory initiatives together with the low - yield environment have affected the fixed income strategies of institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, and to draw implications for the financial system. in doing so, we relied on bilateral interviews and regional roundtables, involving 70 private sector institutions. even after discounting industry complaints, there are grounds for expecting certain adjustments to the assets, liabilities and derivatives books run by insurance companies and pension funds. i would like to share the main findings of the cgfs work with you and express some of my views on the topic. our exercise is published in the form of a cgfs report, which can be found at the web - site of the bank of international settlements. 1 i will first provide some background on the role of insurance companies and pension funds, then elaborate on the main changes concerning international accounting standards and the regulatory front, before presenting some views on potential financial system implications. 1. background on the role of insurance companies and pension funds insurance companies and pension funds ( icpfs ) indeed currently find themselves at the intersection of major developments. having weathered the financial crisis on the whole comparatively well, they are now exposed to problems confronting some euro area sovereigns and banks, the low - interest rate environment, and they face upcoming changes in international regulation and accounting standards. with combined assets of some $ 40