the opportunity, for instance, to discuss how micro data can be used to evaluate the effects of regulatory changes. the second session addresses the questions of how and what micro data collected by public authorities can be made available to the public via data hubs. and the third session looks at how data can be used to understand financial interconnectedness, for example by linking a buyer and a seller of a security or by identifying who is lending money to whom. but this conference is not only about financial stability : the fourth session examines the statistical challenges associated with the measurement of the macroeconomic effects resulting from changes in the price of natural resources. the recent decline in the oil price and its consequences for inflation and financial markets may serve as an example for the importance of this topic. last but not least, the fifth session is concerned with the measurement of the material conditions of households. by including this session in the conference, the programme committee has proven to have the right instinct concerning topical issues : this october, the royal swedish academy of science decided to award the nobel prize in economics to angus deaton. angus deaton was awarded the prize not least for his extensive research into consumption and poverty in developing countries. bis central bankers ’ speeches 3. responding to new demands : the bundesbank ’ s research data and service center ladies and gentleman, the demand for new and better statistics is not only reflected in the programme for this conference. it has also already left its mark on the organisation of the bundesbank. the bundesbank is not only a user but also a large producer of high quality statistics. aggregate data that are relevant for macroeconomic analysis are regularly published in our monthly report and our time series database. but we also collect a large amount of micro - level data. these sometimes highly sensitive data range from banks ’ monthly balance sheet statistics to micro data on foreign direct investment. to meet data protection rules, we can only make these data available to the public under certain restrictions. to facilitate access to these data, last year we established our research data and service center. it is located in the 20th floor of the trianon tower here in frankfurt and provides workspaces for 12 guest researchers. a staff of 12 persons advises these guest researchers on data selection and data access. the center does not lift restrictions on data access in place to meet data protection rules, but it makes it easier for non - commercial researchers to use the data to the largest possible extent. 4. the panel on household finances as an

jens weidmann : welcome remarks at the 3rd imf statistical forum welcome remarks by dr jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the 3rd imf statistical forum, frankfurt am main, 19 november 2015. * 1. * * introduction dear mr. zhu, dear otmar issing, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the 3rd imf statistical forum. it is probably safe to say that the bundesbank has seldom had the opportunity to welcome such a large body of international statistics experts. the objective over these two days is to bring together data producers, policy makers, academics and other users to discuss how to further improve the provision of statistics for micro and macroeconomic analyses. for central banks this is of vital importance. monetary policy ultimately depends on the availability of good statistics. the monetary and economic analyses that precede any deliberation on the appropriate monetary policy stance are built on a large amount of data on monetary aggregates, financial market data, inflation expectations or labour market indicators. i am therefore particularly glad that the bundesbank is hosting the first imf statistical forum to be held outside washington. and, when i tell you that the bundesbank is attaching great importance to statistics, i am not merely paying lip service to you. the importance the bundesbank attaches to statistics and statistical methods is shown, for instance, by the fact that carl friedrich gauss, one of the most influential statisticians of all time, was portrayed on the 10 deutsche mark banknote for a long time. building on the work of carl friedrich gauss, statistical methods have been perfected and the process of data collection has been refined again and again. often, the great progress made in the field of statistics has been driven by new demands. if you will, the supply of data and new methods has always responded to changes in demand. governments, for example, have always had a demand for statistics on the wealth of their citizens, as this helped them to collect taxes. in the 17th century, this led sir william petty, an englishman, to count chimneys in order to draw inferences about the wealth of an economy. his works can be seen as the foundation of modern social and economic statistics. but to find examples of how the supply of statistics has responded to demand one does not have to go back as far as the 17th century. in the 1930s, the great depression provided