and serve as the bank for the u. s. treasury. they also play a critical role in supervising many banks and bank holding companies across the country. the 12 reserve banks also serve as the eyes and ears of our central bank in assessing the economic pulse of main street as it formulates and implements monetary policy. each reserve bank has a nine - member board of directors selected to represent a crosssection of banking, commercial, and community interests. these directors fulfill the traditional governance role, but they also provide valuable insights into economic and financial conditions, which contribute to our assessment of the economy. bis central bankers ’ speeches the reserve banks seek to stay in touch with main street in other ways. some have branch offices with their own boards, and all have a variety of advisory councils. the federal reserve banks also collect and analyze data about economic activity. however, published data are generally looking backward at the last month or the last quarter. so, the viewpoints we gather through our boards and advisory councils, and our outreach to businesses and communities through events like this help us add a real - time perspective to the data and help us form a rich and detailed mosaic of our nation ’ s economy. within the federal reserve, the body that considers this mosaic as it makes monetary policy decisions is the fomc. here again, congress has designed the system with a number of checks and balances. since 1935, the composition of the fomc has included the seven governors in washington, d. c., who are appointed by the president of the united states and confirmed by the senate, as well as the president of the new york fed, and four other reserve bank presidents, who serve one - year terms as members on a rotating basis. philadelphia votes this year, but whether we vote or not, all reserve bank presidents attend the fomc meetings, participate in the discussions, and contribute to the committee ’ s assessment of the economy and the policy options. the fomc has eight regularly scheduled meetings each year to set monetary policy. in normal times, the committee votes to adjust short - term interest rates to achieve the goals of monetary policy that congress has set for us. the goals for monetary policy are articulated in the federal reserve act and specify that the fomc “ shall maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy ’ s long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate

also in politics. moreover however, there is a similar attitude to work. it was jack stack, the former head of erste group ’ s czech subsidiary ceska sporitelna, who made me realise this. he once remarked that it was almost unbelievable how czechs and austrians as employees produce very similar outputs and results when given the same tasks to perform. for example, argued stack, they like to deliver something they regard as perfect straight away, and they do not like it when their boss finds fault with what they deliver and firmly believe is perfect from the very beginning. they are essentially very disciplined, and that is the gospel truth. as an american, mr stack had an unbiased view and a great eye and feel for this sort of thing. and he was in many aspects right and revealed what was hidden to many of us. i can confirm that these similarities between czechs and austrians are particularly visible in central european and international teams. i have been reminded of them on many occasions. the last time was fairly recently, when we were negotiating the new position of our countries in the mighty international monetary fund with colleagues and friends from the austrian central bank. this year we achieved an incredible outcome : austria, the czech republic and hungary will have the right to appoint an executive director – one of the 24 executive directors in the imf – each country for a fixed term. as a group of central european countries we will therefore have the same representation as far larger and more populous bis central bankers ’ speeches countries. when the agreement was officially signed at the hofburg palace here in vienna this summer, with the austrian president in attendance, i was reminded that it would perhaps have been impossible to achieve such an outcome on such a delicate and sensitive issue without this foremost mental closeness and some similarity of thought. however over the top it might seem to some, we are indeed very close mentally as well as geographically – perhaps more so than we would care to admit and more than we would like to admit, i should add. so, if you want to know a bit about the future of our economic, civic and other relationships and want to know how the other country is going to respond / react, all you need to do is look in the mirror. as really, you look at your neighbour in the czech republic or austria, you will see something of yourself. our relationships are sometimes like those within a broad family. needless to say, we don ’ t always get along swimmingly. besides