mario draghi : interview on the european cultural days of the ecb interview with mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, and ilmars rimsevics, governor of latvijas banka ( bank of latvia ), for the special supplement of frankfurter allgemeine sonntagszeitung, published on 6 october 2013. * * * mr draghi and mr rimsevics, the work of a central bank has to do with numbers, rules and procedures. where is the connection to culture in your organisations? draghi : as individuals we take part in cultural activities, often with our friends and families. i think it is indispensable for any person to be culturally active in a very broad sense – it confirms that you are part of society. besides, even in our daily work, we express ourselves in cultural terms – think of the images on our banknotes, the architectural style of our buildings or the design of our publications. as an employer of highly qualified professionals, we have a huge interest in stimulating our environment in a way that increases the quality of life here in frankfurt, the city that was chosen as the seat of the ecb by the governments of the european union. rimsevics : where is the connection to culture in my organisation? our coins, our buildings, and our choir. latvijas banka has been developing a collector coin programme for 20 years now, telling the story of latvia – its historical, cultural, emotional values – in this miniature art form. some of our buildings date back to the beginning of the 20th century – our headquarters in riga is a listed building, whereas some other buildings have only been completed at the beginning of the new millennium, for example our new cash vault. both building anew for a modern central bank and preserving history require a good understanding of architectural possibilities and styles. and there are my colleagues, of course, who have come together to form a choir – we are keen singers and enjoy music very much. and these cultural days make us a living part of a very rich tapestry of latvian cultural life for an entire year! the cultural days of the ecb are one opportunity to spread knowledge about our country. the introduction of the euro in latvia in just a few months ’ time is another step in the same direction, and i could also mention riga ’ s status as cultural capital of europe in 2014 in the same context. draghi : in frankfurt, the mere existence

francois villeroy de galhau : monetary policy transmission speech by mr francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the bank of france, at the annual general meeting of the international capital market association ( icma ), paris, 25 may 2023. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to deliver this address at this icma's conference in paris, and i would like to pay tribute to your collective contribution to capital markets. let me thank among others bryan pascoe, rene karsenti, mandy defilippo and the icma french regional committee. in particular, icma's emphasis on sustainable finance perfectly echoes our call alongside christine lagarde for a " green capital markets union ". it is an important way forward for europe in the coming years. in the short and medium term, let me focus today on the transmission of monetary policy. in the euro area, inflation has begun to fall back, from 10. 6 % in october 2022 to 7 % in april, after 6. 9 % in march, and is expected to recede by the end of the year. but it will still be too high. and while headline inflation has been declining, underlying price pressures are showing persistence. the governing council has already taken prompt and forceful actions to tighten the stance of monetary policy. the increase in policy rates since 2022 has been exceptionally rapid by any historical standards : 7 hikes in less than ten months, amounting to + 375 basis points. the primary question today is not so much how much further we need to go with interest rate hikes, but how large is the pass - through of what is already in the pipe. overall, evidence shows a quick and smooth pass - through of ecb decisions to broad financing conditions, which is the first step of monetary policy transmission. the growth rate of bank loans to households and firms has slowed due to a combination of higher borrowing rates, lower demand, and - for firms - tighter credit standards. volumes of loans are decelerating, even though growth in outstanding amounts remains positive [ + 3. 3 % in the euro area for mortgages to households and + 5. 2 % for loans to businesses ]. by the way, the growth of loans in france remains significantly higher than in the euro area average. the second step of monetary policy transmission goes from the overall financing conditions to the economy and to inflation. in the textbook theory, tighter financial conditions moderate aggregate demand, and then decrease