and indeed, over the past few years, many central banks have taken on more and more tasks. monetary policy nowadays seems to be urged to promote short - term financial stability or to facilitate public borrowing. evidently, these developments have to be seen against the backdrop of the financial and sovereign debt crises of the past six years. for sure, there have been good reasons why central banks helped contain the crises through additional policy measures. central banks can do, and are doing, a lot to prevent tail events and are buying time for politicians to undertake the reforms needed to tackle the root of the crisis. but i am concerned to see central banks being pushed into the role of an all - purpose weapon of sorts. this will not do anybody any favours. in his andrew crockett memorial lecture held at the bank of international settlements a few days ago, professor raghuram rajan from the university of chicago ’ s booth school of business described the situation quite well : “ when the central banker offers himself as the only game in town, in an environment where politicians only have choices between the bad and the worse, he becomes the only game in town. ” but we should not let politicians lean back. we are not the only game in town. and if we find ourselves alone on the field, we need to bring the other relevant players back and remind them of their responsibilities. central banks cannot solve the crisis. and we should avoid overburdening monetary policy by trying. federal reserve and bundesbank turning to today ’ s event, it is my pleasure to have jerome powell from the federal reserve board of governors with us. he needs no introduction. jerome is going to deliver a speech on, among other things, international cooperation among central banks. how mutually bis central bankers ’ speeches beneficial and fruitful such a cooperation can be is shown, for instance, by the long - lasting collaboration between the fed and the bundesbank on so many different levels. the representative office of the deutsche bundesbank in new york is a good example of this close relationship. and i am sure that ms stirbock will contribute to a further deepening of this relationship, just as mr stephan did over the last four years. being a valued partner for discussion not only for our colleagues at the federal reserve bank, but for all our contacts in new york, mr stephan – and now ms stirbock – help to ensure this important dialog between the bundesbank and the financial centre new york. ms stir

the economy has been a subject of growing concern to us for quite some time. it has continued tumbling from nearly 30 per cent at its peak in 1992 to 26 per cent at the start of the millennium and now stands dangerously close to 12 per cent. the launch of the platinum coin gives me thus an opportunity to kick - start our “ saving for a better future ” programme which, we hope, will help foster a better culture of savings for our population. we think our dodo has too easy a time, just sitting there in the logo of the bank. we plan to press - gang our dear, daft, and defunct dodo into service to advance this cause of saving. hopefully, domestic savings will do what the dodo never did – that is fly off the danger zone. do not be surprised therefore if piggy - banks in our part of the world will never look the same again! i thank you again for your presence at this launch ceremony. thank you very much for your attention and i look forward to some active sales this evening.