across europe, is evidence of the widespread support in the market for the project. not only have the csds of all euro area countries signed the memorandum of understanding, but also the csds of seven eu countries outside the euro area – denmark, estonia, latvia, lithuania, romania, sweden and the uk – and two csds from countries outside the eu – iceland and switzerland. furthermore, the csds of denmark, lithuania and sweden have – with the consent of their central bank and with the support of their markets – also confirmed their intention to provide for settlement of their national currency in t2s, in addition to settlements in euro. we are grateful for the support of the csds and market participants more widely. this support has helped us to define a product which is fully in line with market needs. i am aware that it translated through all levels of the institutions – political as well as operational levels – and it has generated a momentum which makes me confident that we will also achieve the future milestones of the t2s project in good time. in the coming months, many of the key decisions will have to be made in preparation for the start of the development phase of the project which is scheduled for early next year. the signing of the memorandum of understanding will therefore pave the way for these decisions. we will need to discuss not only the governance of the platform and the contractual relations between the eurosystem and the csds, but also of course the pricing structure. i am confident that the discussions will be as diverse and fruitful as they have been so far, and that today marks another important milestone for the success of t2s project. thank you for your attention.

. in a fluid environment where financial system conditions may unexpectedly change, prudence is of the essence both for policymakers and financial institutions. concerning the role of financial institutions and supervisory authorities in coping with the financial turmoil, i would submit three observations. first, given the underlying factors of the financial stress, and in order to re - establish confidence within the financial system, it is crucial to promote a widespread consistent valuation of complex structured products as well as an adequate disclosure by banks of all their exposures, in particular related to the us subprime mortgage sector. second, i would welcome the efforts of the supervisory community, namely through the basel committee on banking supervision and the committee of european banking supervisors, in keeping each other abreast of developments and in considering jointly possible measures to contain the potential effects of the turmoil. third, i would underline the importance in stress situations, like the current one, of effective and smooth cooperation and exchange of information between the supervisory authorities and central banks. as to the policy lessons to be learned in order to avoid the recurrence of similar disruptions in the future, i would say that, while it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions, there is a common understanding on the key issues requiring further analysis. in this respect, let me recall a few topics. first, the need for the financial industry to provide significantly more public information about securitisation, credit risk transfer and complex structured products. transparency appears to be of the essence in order to restore trust and confidence. second, the need for rating agencies to review their methodologies for complex structured products and to address very seriously potential conflicts of interest. third, the need for investors to review their investment behaviour excessively reliant on ratings. fourth, the need for supervisors to implement the new capital framework under basel ii as rapidly and effectively as possible and to reflect on possible improvements of the framework, including the enhancements of the supervisory regime for liquidity risk. in this context, i should mention that the ecb with the assistance of the banking supervision committee is carrying out work on banks ’ stress - testing and contingency funding plans. on all the issues mentioned above, work is already under way at both the international and european level. the ecb is strongly supportive of the work of the financial stability forum, as well as of the european initiatives discussed in the ecofin council. in this context, i would like to once again stress the importance of effective cooperation in any policy actions to