financial institution level, the development of new approaches and techniques for stress testing would be crucial for measuring the risk of climate change. however, if each entity chooses to keep their advancements proprietary, industry adoption will be slow. collaboration and knowledge sharing is needed to scale solutions and reduce costs. therefore, i am hoping that for the next few hours, we will all make a conscious choice to participate in these sessions with a generous heart and an open mind. i hope everyone will choose to collaborate rather than compete, to share rather than hoard. in this regard, i am encouraged by the collective efforts by the industry in undertaking capacity building initiatives to upskill the financial institutions and exploring potential solutions to bridge the data gaps. commendable efforts by the jc3 sub - committee 1 and 4 in leading training initiatives and sub - committee 5 in producing and refining the climate data catalogue exemplify this collaborative spirit. ladies and gentlemen, some of you have been asking, what's next after this stress test? i'd like to address this in some detail. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches important to note is that the climate stress test, or crst for short, is not an end in itself. it should not be viewed as merely a regulatory compliance exercise. although bnm does not intend for the results of the inaugural stress test to calibrate capital requirements, we do expect financial institutions to take this exercise seriously. i strongly advise financial institutions to already start planning for how the results of the stress test could be used to inform strategic planning and management decision making. crst results are more than just numbers. they provide important insights into how climate risks could impact the business and operations of an institution. hence, active engagement from senior management and the board throughout the crst journey – not just when the final results are available – will be crucial to the success of this first exercise. financial institutions need adequate internal support to address the challenges they face, and this requires buy - in from the top throughout the stress test exercise. additionally, as climate risks continue to evolve, we expect climate risk stress tests to be a recurring exercise moving forward. as such, it is imperative that financial institutions continuously invest in enhancing their stress test capabilities, particularly in areas such as data collection, methodology and model development. this ongoing refinement is essential to ensure that the crst remains relevant and responsive to the ever - evolving nature of climate risks. before i conclude, i want to emphasise the over

erkki liikanen : independent institutions and rule of law are essential for successful convergence speech by mr erkki liikanen, governor of the bank of finland, at the 7th ecb conference on central, eastern and south - eastern europen ( cesee ) countries " institutional quality and sustainable economic convergence ", frankfurt am main, 5 october 2017. * * * first a comment from the history of enlargements. the first post - cold war – enlargement negotiations started in march 1993. these were concluded in spring of 1994. austria, finland and sweden joined in january 1995. i was one of the negotiators then. in the middle of these negotiations, in june 1993, the danish presidency hosted copenhagen european council. the council wanted to show the path to 10 central and eastern european countries who desired to become a member of the eu. the summit defined three key pillars, preconditions for the membership : the membership requires : 1. the candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities 2. the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the union 3. the ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union. in the summit in essen in 1994 the pre - accession strategy was confirmed and it turned out to be very successful. four years later, in july 1997 the european commission assessed the candidate countries in her opinion. this opinion was a pre - condition for membership negotiations. i was a member of that european commission. the first chapter of the commission opinion analysed the political criteria with the title democracy and the rule of law. the judiciary, its structure and its functioning got a particular attention. it is no surprise to anyone that these issues remain a corner stone in the european union. when joining the eu, the countries took the commitment to respect these principle. it is also very important that european commission monitors the developments closely and takes also actions, when needed. the enlargement negotiations were launched in march 1998 in brussels. w e can all agree that economic convergence in the cesee countries has been a success. with the help of foreign investment and especially market access to the european union, countries in the region have been able to lift their incomes significantly. for example, during the past 25 years real per capita gross domestic product in hungary and the czech republic increased by