nout wellink : the position of women in the financial sector address by dr nout wellink, president of the nederlandsche bank and president of the bank for international settlements, at the conference on “ women at the decision making positions ”, organised by the russian association of regional banks, amsterdam, 24 february 2003. * * * i rarely have the privilege of addressing an audience largely made up of women. that in itself is telling - and is not a good sign. but the fact of the matter is that the financial world is still dominated by men. that applies to both commercial and central banks, and the netherlands is no exception. so, in the run - up to international women ’ s day, you have every reason to hold this conference to focus on the role of women at senior management levels in the financial sector. the position of women in the labour market can and must be improved, notably in the financial sector. that ’ s not just because i think women deserve a better deal but also, if not mainly, because it would be good for companies and for society as a whole to see an improvement in women ’ s labour market participation and their chances to advance to the top. the world would be a bleaker place if it only consisted of men, and the same applies to organisations. an organisation with a mix of men and women on all levels has a more pleasant atmosphere, which possibly makes for a better performance. moreover, the economy as a whole will benefit from higher women participation rates, for the participation rate among women in the euro area is one of the reasons why the growth of income per capita here lags behind that in the united states. and women should be appropriately rewarded, of course. which reminds me of what was written about alan greenspan in a recent biography. when still running his own financial consultancy, some 40 years ago, greenspan chose to recruit women rather than men. his motivation was purely rational. he was convinced that women were just as qualified as men, but since the labour market did not fully appreciate the quality of women they were undervalued and hence cheaper. greenspan used his sharp insight to benefit from this arbitrage opportunity. back to the present day. the good news is that in the euro area the labour market participation for women aged between 24 and 45 is far higher than that for those of 45 and over. this indicates an improvement over time and is a promising development. the bad news is that women still lag far

a small, open economy, the netherlands could only benefit from international cooperation, free trade and free capital markets. duisenberg advocated the opinion that integration of monetary policy was the inevitable reply to this liberalization of european money and capital markets. returning again to the start of duisenberg's presidency, the high inflation and interest rates in that period had a serious effect on the real estate market. in the early 1980s several mortgage banks ran into trouble. in 1983 one of them, the tilburgsche hypotheekbank, became insolvent. this mortgage bank crisis was a serious test for the new prudential supervision regime of dnb, the wtk of 1978. duisenberg indicated firmly that supervision could only minimize the probability of failures, not exclude them. he showed that this tough policy line could be complemented by careful steering towards a private sector solution. two of the mortgage banks could be rescued by other institutions, which benefited all stakeholders, including the creditors. ultimately, 95 % of the liabilities of the failed tilburgsche hypotheekbank could be paid off. duisenberg took a clear stand with respect to budgetary policy. starting with his first annual report, duisenberg has always maintained that dnb would not support an expansionary budgetary policy that would result in unsustainable deficits. a view like that was not at all obvious in the 1970s and 80s. between the second world war and the 1970s, dutch economic policy had been of a keynesian nature, with scope for activist, counter - cyclical budgetary stimulus. early 1980s, the consensus view changed gradually towards a more restrictive budgetary policy. with patience and perseverance, duisenberg continued to explain the adverse economic consequences of a high budget deficit. his main argument was the upward effect on interest rates, which reduced private investment and economic growth. also, duisenberg had the view that the dutch welfare state could not be supported in the long run if budgetary policy would not change its course. finally, duisenberg argued, international coordination of economic policy required a budgetary situation that is under control and on a sustainable path. in a sense, he gave early arguments for the stability and growth pact, that was signed in 1997. duisenberg's view on economic policy was completed by respecting the crucial role of employers and employees in setting wages and labour costs. next to stable exchange rates, low inflation and low capital market rates