mr greenspan gives a testimony on over - the - counter derivatives testimony of mr alan greenspan, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry, united states senate, on 10 february 2000. * * * i am pleased to be here today to underscore the importance of this committee ’ s efforts to modernize the commodity exchange act ( cea ) and to express my support for the recommendations for amending the act that were contained in the report by the president ’ s working group on financial markets entitled over - the - counter derivatives markets and the commodity exchange act. the need for legislation over - the - counter ( otc ) derivatives have come to play an exceptionally important role in our financial system and in our economy. these instruments allow users to unbundle risks and allocate them to the investors most willing and able to assume them. a growing number of financial and non - financial institutions have embraced derivatives as an integral part of their risk capital allocation and profit maximization. in particular, the profitability of derivative products has been a major factor in the significant gain in the finance industry ’ s share of american corporate output during the past decade - a reflection of their value to non - financial industry. indeed, this value added from derivatives itself derives from their ability to enhance the process of wealth creation throughout our economy. in light of the importance of otc derivatives, it is essential that we address the legal uncertainties created by the possibility that courts could construe otc derivatives to be futures contracts subject to the cea. the legal uncertainties create risks to counterparties in otc contracts and, indeed, to our financial system that simply are unacceptable. they have also impeded initiatives to centralize the trading and clearing of otc contracts, developments that have the potential to increase efficiency and reduce risks in otc transactions. as i shall discuss more fully later in my remarks, rapid changes in communications technology portend that time is running out for us to modernize our regulation of financial markets before we lose them and the associated profits and employment opportunities to foreign jurisdictions that impose no such impediments. to be sure, the congress and the commodity futures trading commission ( cftc ) have taken steps to address these concerns about the cea. the futures trading practices act of 1992 gave the cftc authority to exempt otc derivatives from most provisions of the act. in early - 1993 the cftc used that

christian noyer : the development of financial markets in the euro area speech delivered by mr christian noyer, vice - president of the european central bank, at the royal institute of international affairs, london, on 26 june 2000. * * * ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased to be here at chatham house today to address such a distinguished audience. over recent years, the economic and financial structure of the euro area has undergone sweeping changes. overall, these changes have led to the rapid development of financial markets in the euro area. this trend seems to have been reinforced since the introduction of the euro on 1 january 1999. over a period of a few years, financial markets in the euro area have grown in size and have come to play a more important role in the economy. the development of financial markets in the euro area is shaped by a set of broad economic trends, all of which are conducive to the development of deeper, more liquid and more efficient financial markets. one of these broad trends is the programme of economic and monetary union, which has contributed to further economic integration and convergence of the economies of the european union over most of the past decade. as the processes of economic activity became more intertwined in the european union, this naturally led to the development of more cross - border financial interconnections. in the countries which adopted the euro, the evidence available so far suggests that the single currency facilitated this process. the euro acted as a catalyst for the development of area - wide financial markets, although this process is still far from complete. another trend is the solid establishment of price stability in the euro area. this followed the considerable progress made in the run - up to emu. during the second half of the 1990s, the rate of increase in consumer prices at the level of the euro area declined steadily to reach values in line with price stability. even more importantly, during this period the citizens, firms and other organisations of the euro area progressively came to consider it credible that price stability would henceforth continue to be firmly maintained. this confidence on the part of the public is of the utmost importance for the continued success of the monetary policy of the eurosystem. as we all know, price stability is beneficial in numerous ways, not only in creating a climate for higher economic activity over the medium term, but also in reducing the economic and social inequalities caused by the asymmetric distribution of the costs of inflation on the various economic agents. in addition, when inflation