peter praet : the ecb ’ s asset purchase programme – the impact so far speech by mr peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the eurofi conference, luxembourg, 9 september 2015. * * * the ecb ’ s expanded asset purchase programme has met with our initial expectations. first of all, it has strongly signalled the ecb ’ s commitment to deliver its medium - term price stability objective, which has in turn been reflected in an upward shift in inflation expectations at all horizons. in keeping with this, any second round effects on inflation from the steep drop in oil prices last year appear to have been forestalled, and the tightening of medium - term real rates we saw towards the end of last year has been reversed ( though the path of real rates implied by markets has recently steepened noticeably ). more generally, the signalling effect of the app has been visible in solidifying business and consumer confidence underpinning a broadening economic recovery. the expanded app, together with our credit easing package launched in summer 2014, has also had a positive impact on both market and bank credit dynamics. the cost of marketbased debt fell to historically low levels in the early part of 2015, and though it has risen in recent months, financing flows have remained robust. this implies a “ first order ” monetary policy effect from our interventions. the credit easing package and expanded app has been effective too in reducing wholesale funding costs for banks, allowing banks to pass on better funding conditions to their customers. since summer last year the average cost of borrowing for euro area non - financial corporations has fallen by around 70 bps, and by 90 bps and 110 bps for nfcs in spain and italy, respectively. the latest evidence from the july bank lending survey confirms the improvement in credit conditions. during the second quarter of 2015 credit standards continued to ease for firms, and even more so for households. reflecting the endogenous relationship between credit supply and demand, credit demand also increased among both groups driven mostly by the low level of interest rates. the impact of the expanded app on bank funding costs has been partially reversed by the recent market repricing. here, however, the credit easing package and our broader asset purchases could act as complements, in particular the targeted long - term refinancing operations. for the app, the ecb defines the volume of liquidity it would like to inject, but cannot determine the price ;

svein gjedrem : housing finance in norway speech by mr svein gjedrem, governor of norges bank ( central bank of norway ), to the norwegian covered bond forum, oslo, 27 january 2010. the text below may differ slightly from the actual presentation. this lecture does not contain assessments of the economic situation or current interest rate setting. * * * from state to private housing finance after the second world war, the credit market in norway was regulated. credit demand was high. the norwegian state endeavoured to steer credit flows towards priority sectors and the state banks therefore played an important role as credit intermediaries. there were considerable housing shortages after the war. for some population groups, living conditions were poor. in1946, the norwegian state housing bank was established to provide credit for new residential construction. this bank and statens landbruksbank ( the state agricultural bank ) dominated housing finance for new house purchases up to the 1980s. state bank mortgage rates were initially set based on political objectives, but were over the years gradually revised up and adjusted to market rates. with the gradual deregulation of the credit market in the 1980s, state lending institutions assumed a lesser role in housing finance and the private market took over. sales of existing homes increased. in 1992 private banks provided the majority of residential mortgages. their share of housing finance was also high compared with other nordic countries. in denmark and sweden, mortgage institutions were the primary source of residential mortgages. even though their importance has been reduced in recent years, mortgage companies still provide most residential mortgages. with the predominance of mortgage companies, fixed - rate mortgages have been a tradition in denmark and sweden. this has not been the case for norway. mortgages from the state housing bank were primarily adjustable - rate loans. after credit market liberalisation, adjustable - rate mortgages were also offered by banks. the supply of fixed - rate mortgages was limited. fixed - rate loans are less common in norway than in the other nordic countries. from the 1980s to the 1990s, the norwegian economy moved from high to low inflation with, until recently, falling nominal long - term interest rates. borrowers with fixed - rate mortgages fared poorly in this period, and even more poorly than maturity or mortgage insurance premiums alone would imply. but with a clear monetary policy objective to keep inflation low and stable – and with an independent central bank tasked with achieving this objective – the result would be