supervisory practice of assessing planned distributions of dividends on a bank - by - bank basis. we opted to be prudent today to avoid having regrets tomorrow should overall economic conditions further deteriorate. the ecb is in good company. other institutions have joined the effort to keep the financial taps open for the real economy during this exceptional period. after the “ quick fix ” to the capital requirements regulation, the european commission recently adopted a capital markets recovery package to make it easier for capital markets to support the economic recovery. the proposal to amend the securitisation regulation is part of this package. it includes a recital stating that the requirements on direct risk retention, transparency and the resecuritisation ban are also prudential obligations and thus specifically entrusted to the competent authorities in charge of prudential supervision, implying that the ecb has an active supervisory role in these areas. this, in my view, is problematic. the ecb recognises its competence to supervise banks ’ adherence to some securitisation 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches obligations that are prudential in nature, such as the use of proper credit granting criteria for exposures to be securitised. however, the other tasks include the supervision of compliance with direct risk retention requirements, transparency requirements and the ban on resecuritisation. these tasks fall under the category of product supervision rather than prudential supervision. they ensure the alignment of interests between investors and originators, and between sponsors and original lenders. they allow investors to understand, assess and compare securitisation transactions. the ecb cannot take on these tasks because they go beyond its prudential supervision mandate. article 127 ( 6 ) of the treaty on the functioning of the european union and the ssm regulation clearly define these limitations. a simple recital cannot change these ; only a treaty change can. re - labelling financial product supervision tasks as prudential tasks won ’ t do the trick. what ’ s more, assigning financial product supervision to the ecb could result in conflicting responsibilities. in its role as prudential supervisor, the ecb generally wants as little risk as possible to remain with a bank acting as originator, so as to minimise arbitrage opportunities with the corresponding reduction of capital requirements. at the same time, the competent authority needs to ensure that the bank retains a material net economic interest under the risk retention obligation. this might be linked to the need to preserve proper credit

. in particular, the euro has been used by international borrowers as a currency to secure funding. let me give you two examples. since the launch of the euro, around one - quarter of international money market instruments issued by residents outside the euro area were denominated in euro. this is mainly due to the investors ’ interest in the higher liquidity brought about by the creation of the integrated money market. before the launch of the single currency, only 8 % of all international money market instruments issued by non - euro area residents were denominated in the legacy currencies. likewise, around 30 % of international bonds and notes issued by residents outside the euro area are currently denominated in euro, as opposed to less than 20 % in euro legacy currencies prior to 1999. also in this case, market expectations of growing liquidity have probably been the key driving force behind the upward trend. let me add that, outside the euro area, the euro is not only used by private agents but also by the official sector. in particular, more than 50 countries currently maintain an exchange rate regime involving an external anchor in which the euro plays a role. as a reserve currency, the euro accounts for 13 % of official reserves and, admittedly, plays currently a smaller role than the us dollar, whose share amounts to 66 %. the ecb itself, by holding a large amount of us dollar foreign reserves, contributes to the prevailing role of the us currency as an official reserve currency. the current share of the euro in international reserves is comparable with the share reached by the euro legacy currencies prior to the introduction of the euro, implying that, in aggregate terms, there had been no reallocation of official reserves out of the us dollar. the link between domestic and international factors let me now elaborate briefly on the interaction between domestic and international factors as a determinant of the international use of the euro. without doubt, when deciding on the use of the euro or another currency as a means of transaction, international markets also assess economic policies carried out in the various economic areas. in this vein, the commitment of the ecb to price stability – which is defined as an inflation rate below 2 % over a medium - term horizon – should underpin international investors ’ confidence that the purchasing power of their euro - denominated assets will be maintained over time. indeed, a currency can only reach international status if internal price stability is ensured over the long run. international investors also consider