cash until then. credit institutions will be obliged to arrange appropriate coverage of the risks of anticipated public use, as well as of destruction or theft. in addition, sub - frontloading shall be performed by credit institutions against the delivery of appropriate collateral to the national central banks. as regards the cross - border exchange of national banknotes within the euro area, you may recall that the ecb decided, back in 1998, that each national central bank of the euro area has to provide for at least one location where an exchange of such national banknotes can be effected at the official conversion rates. originally, it was envisaged that this exchange facility would expire on 31 december 2001. now the governing council of the ecb has decided to extend this period until 31 march 2002 in order to expedite the changeover process. for the sake of completeness, i should like to add that the exchange of national banknotes at the respective national central bank after 1 january 2002 will be possible for a much longer period ( at least ten years ). however, according to current planning in member states, the time span for the exchange of national coins will, at least in some countries, be considerably shorter, ranging from one year after the coins have ceased to be legal tender up to an indefinite period. the governing council also reviewed the number of euro banknotes which will have to be printed before the end of 2001, and decided to increase the launch stock of euro banknotes from 13 to 14. 5 billion. in doing so, the governing council took into account the participation of greece, a higher than expected increase in banknotes in circulation within the euro area, an anticipated strong demand for low - denomination banknotes and the slower than anticipated progress in the use of electronic money. the total nominal value of euro banknotes will amount to eur616 billion. another important issue to which the ecb continued to pay considerable attention relates to improvements needed in the field of eu statistics. in conducting monetary policy, the ecb uses a wide range of statistics - broadly speaking : those published in the 60 pages of tables in our monthly bulletin. two sets of statistics of particular importance to us, namely the monthly monetary data and the hicp ( harmonised index of consumer prices ) covering the euro area, compare well in quality and timeliness with corresponding data elsewhere. this is also true for some other areas, such as balance of payments and securities issues. however, in some areas the timeliness and quality of

john hurley : capital markets and financial integration in europe opening remarks by mr john hurley, governor of the central bank and financial services authority of ireland, at the ninth conference of the ecb - cfs research network on asset management, private equity firms and international capital flows : their role for financial integration and efficiency, dublin, 8 - 9 october 2007. * * * ladies and gentlemen, good morning and you are all very welcome to this ninth conference of the european central bank and the centre for financial studies research network on capital markets and financial integration in europe. we are delighted in the central bank and financial services authority of ireland to be hosting this event in dublin and i would like to particularly welcome those of you who are visiting us here for the first time. i would also like congratulate the organisers on having the foresight to choose, as long ago as last year, a topic for this conference which would prove so timely and interesting in the current environment! the conference programme is notable for both its diversity and its topicality. this is a testament to the work of the ecb - cfs research network and represents a successful collaboration on research in the area of financial market integration and international linkages. the centre for financial studies conducts and facilitates excellent independent and internationally - oriented research on financial markets, financial intermediaries and monetary economics, and the promotion of dialogue between academia and the financial community. it is a natural partner to collaborate with the ecb in sponsoring this research network. the ecb has, since its inception, maintained a focus on encouraging research which is directly relevant to understanding the workings of the global economy. the ecb has a strong track record of interacting with both academics and market participants in this regard. in the five - and - a - half years since its inception, the ecb - cfs research network collaboration has resulted in nine conferences, including today's. these have consistently been composed of top - quality research, covering a myriad of topics in the area of the structure and integration of financial systems in europe and its international linkages. i was impressed to see that, as far back as 2004, the network was exhibiting its talent for foresight, which i have already mentioned, in investigating a number of issues on bank contagion in europe, interbank exposures, liquidity and systemic risk. and as far back at 2003, when the issue was still low on the financial markets radar, the network was examining private equity issues. also, and more