axel a weber : the imf in a changing world ( concluding remarks ) concluding remarks by professor axel a weber, president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the joint imf - bundesbank symposium “ the imf in a changing world ”, frankfurt, 8 june 2005. * * * ladies and gentlemen delivering the concluding remarks at a symposium with such outstanding participants and lively discussions is a challenging task. george bernhard shaw once remarked ironically that “ if all economists were laid end to end they would not reach a conclusion ”. it is not too difficult to imagine that he would have acknowledged his proposition as applying to policymakers, too. in his opening remarks, vice president stark posed a list of questions for consideration at this symposium. it was not to be expected, of course, that at the end of the day we could easily resolve all of the issues at hand and provide universally accepted answers. however, given the inherent difficulties of some of the issues discussed here today, symposiums like today ’ s are also valuable in shaping our understanding of the problems at hand and providing new perspectives on feasible solutions. measured against this yardstick, the symposium has more than met my expectations. the current global economic environment and the imf there has been widespread consensus about the driving forces behind the changes in the world economy and the role of the imf. the imf was founded over 60 years ago to meet the needs of an international monetary system with fixed exchange rates and restricted capital mobility. the current environment, however, is a very different one. its defining characteristics are large scale capital mobility and a growing importance of more flexible exchange rate arrangements. some have therefore felt inclined to pose the provocative question of whether we still need the imf at all. one affirmative answer to these sceptics lies in the fact that the transformation of the global economy into the current situation has been all but smooth and cannot safely be assumed to be smooth in the future. the 1980 ’ s witnessed the latin american debt crisis, the 1990 ’ s were fraught with several severe financial crises following abrupt reversals in capital flows to emerging markets. in the aftermath of these experiences, fundamental questions arose concerning the appropriate role of the imf. the same questions which have played a distinct role in today ’ s discussions, too. before i briefly touch on some of these issues, it is worth mentioning, however, that in certain aspects the current global economy has been portrait as not being completely different from that in the days of bretton woods

gertrude tumpel - gugerell : enhancing infrastructures for the eu financial market speech by ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the 11th euro finance week, european transaction banking conference, frankfurt am main, 17 november 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, in 1909, almost one hundred years ago, the frankfurt festhalle was opened. the festhalle is the main historic building of the messe frankfurt exhibition grounds and stands next to the modern hall in which this conference takes place today. at the time of its inauguration, the festhalle was the largest domed building [ kuppelbau ] in europe and a symbol of frankfurt ’ s pride as an important commercial and financial centre. the construction of the steel dome is intriguing : the weight of the roof is evenly distributed between the various crossbeams, with circular beams providing additional support. just like in a gothic cathedral, each beam plays a key role in ensuring the safety of the entire building. for me, the construction of that dome - shaped roof reflects the set - up of financial infrastructures. the network of links and connections in such infrastructures ensures broad coverage and an efficient flow of liquidity. changes to the infrastructures can only be made in a coordinated fashion, as each individual part plays an important role in the network as a whole. it is thanks to steel engineering technology and the excellence of the architects and builders at the time that such a roof could be constructed. however, it is evident that, since 1909, the public authorities have also played a significant role in ensuring that the static construction of the building has remained safe and resilient over time. similarly, regulation and oversight standards play a vital role in ensuring that the market infrastructures provide a robust foundation for our financial system, particularly during these turbulent times. it is therefore a great pleasure for me to speak today at the opening of this conference on transaction banking and to share with you my views on future priorities for enhancing the market infrastructures of the european union ( eu ). in my speech, i would like to focus on the following two main issues : first, it is clear that eu infrastructures have not yet reached a sufficient level of integration to provide effective support to the single financial market, especially in the fields of securities clearing and settlement, and retail payments. the present degree of fragmentation needs to be reduced significantly if we are to get closer to our objective of achieving a truly integrated