yves mersch : the overhaul of the architecture of the euro area and the return of investor confidence speech by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the cfa institute european investment conference “ beyond austerity – opportunities for european investors in the global market ”, london, 15 november 2013. * * * introduction it is a great pleasure to join you at the sixth annual european investment conference and to have this opportunity to talk to investment professionals. i would like to discuss the return of confidence in the euro that we have observed over the past year. in particular, i would like to show that recent financial market developments confirm the credibility of the reform actions taken at european and national level. we can clearly see that investor confidence is slowly returning, that the persistent euro area financial market fragmentation is decreasing and that contagion is receding. this does not mean that the euro area and its member countries can rest on their laurels, as some efforts are still needed to bring an end to the crisis and to put economic and monetary union ( emu ) on a stronger footing. building a stronger emu before looking at these encouraging market developments, let me briefly recall the causes of the euro area crisis and the policy actions taken at european and national level to address the economic imbalances and financial vulnerabilities. as the crisis has shown us : the original design of the euro has been incomplete. it became clear that the euro area lacked certain institutional elements which are essential to federations with a single currency. three of these shortcomings were particularly acute and contributed to the euro area sovereign debt crisis : first, the maastricht treaty was a child of its time. it reflected the ambient overreliance on the disciplinary effects of markets. fiscal policies remained at national level. the stability and growth pact provided rules to mitigate this situation but their implementation by the council of ministers often lacked traction and facilitated fiscal indiscipline. second, macroeconomic imbalances often precede fiscal disequilibria. but the treaty only provided for a vague coordination of economic policies which on top were not determinedly pushed by the commission. third, europe lacked a coherent approach to financial sector policies. regulatory frameworks and financial policies remained insufficiently harmonised and centralised, neglecting the increasing level of financial integration in the euro area. in this respect, there was no level playing field for european banks and, in particular, there was no institutional framework

hamad al - sayari : challenges posed to investment in saudi banks speech by his excellency hamad al - sayari, governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency, to the symposium on challenges posed to investment and saudi banks, riyadh, 2 december 2006. * * * dear audience, at the beginning, i would like to welcome all honorable attendance. it gives me a great pleasure today to address you at the outset of the deliberations of this symposium on " challenges posed to investment and saudi banks in an environment of global economic openness " which is convened at a time the kingdom is witnessing a period of economic growth accompanied with and enhanced by steps of economic reforms in the fields of streamlining of regulations, restructuring of the national economy, and approval of a number of mega development projects as well as the accession to the world trade organization which is an important step towards enhancing integration into the world economy, coping with economic developments, and attraction of foreign investments apart from accession to global markets which will be reflected on the competitive capacity of the national economy. dear audience, the current symposium is being held in a promising economic environment in this country. the kingdom has recorded outstanding economic results. the real gross domestic product rose by 6. 5 percent in 2005. this growth rate was reflected on almost all sectors of the economy which is characterized by strong investment. international rating agencies recorded their appreciation and certified the efficiency and strength of the national economy. eventually, they raised the credit rating of the kingdom to advanced grades. this environment promoted the interest of foreign investors to participate in and benefit from the various investment opportunities available in the saudi economy. the saudi banking system has played a vital role in the enhancement of the national economy. thanks to its use of the latest technologies and various banking products, the banking system has witnessed good development under a supervisory system which is very keen to meet domestic requirements and legislation and to comply with international standards, including basel capital adequacy standard. the banks operating in the kingdom are very serious in the application of this standard. as a result, the kingdom's banking system has become one of the advanced systems, not only at the regional level but also at the international one. dear audience, basel ii standards are the most important supervisory initiatives of this decade, and they will have a considerable impact on changing the conduct of risk management at all banks regardless of their size and location. the standards aim at achieving a number of objectives, including ensuring the capital adequacy of