consumer credit. also companies which specialize in payment systems are part of the non - banking category. right now i am talking, they offer you the possibility to make payments over your mobile telephone. this sevice is already available in the united states. other non - banking institutions include consumer comparison sites like wellowell, portals and personal agents. the implications of e - banking for supervision so far i have described some consequences of electronic media for the banking system. but what are the implications for banking supervision? let me discuss some recent activities undertaken by supervisors. first, the nederlandsche bank supervises the banking system in accordance with the dutch credit systems supervision act. the policy regulations for the media ( beleidsregels media ) were formulated to indicate how this act should be applied where financial services are offered via electronic media. briefly put, these regulations state that it makes no difference whether banking services are provided via traditional channels such as branch offices, or over the internet. in both cases the institution concerned is required to hold a banking license. for example, an institution established in the netherlands which provides banking services over the internet comes under the supervision of dnb. however, a provider which is established abroad but via the internet is active in the dutch market is also subject to dnb supervision. several indicators play a part in deciding whether activities are considered to be directed at the dutch market, like the use of the dutch language, contact points in the netherlands, and the addressees of the media used. the existing regulatory legislation is therefore adequate for proper banking supervision, also with the advent of e - banking. e - banking has however made the regulator ’ s task more complicated. how do we check that all providers that are active over the internet in the dutch market do indeed comply with regulatory legislation? this brings me to a recent dnb initiative. second, in combination with its fellow regulators the dutch insurance board and the securities board of the netherlands, the dnb has entered into a co - operative agreement with the dutch national police agency ( korps landelijke politiediensten, or klpd ) and the dutch economic investigation service ( economische controle dienst, or ecd ). we are working together on developing new tracking methods. the objective is that those whose actions on the internet are in breach of the regulatory legislation can be traced. a third initiative is the introduction of the internet officer. the digital detective, or cybercop,

have to say that this is something that is accepted now by the main stream of economists as a result of the past observations. you might remember that there has been a period of the so - called stagflation in the 70s, which has permitted the economic analysis to make important progress. and the idea that we could have a medium to long term trade - off between inflation and growth is now rejected and that is the reason why you either have a monetary policy concept of our own kind in europe or the so - called inflation targeting concept, which is very much generalised around the world and which is underpinned by exactly the same idea : by giving the central bank the task of delivering price stability, we pave the way for sustainable growth and job creation. by the way, when i look at europe, since the setting up of the euro and i examine the job creation during the first nine years of the euro, i have to tell you that we have had a remarkable success in this respect : we have created around 15 million new jobs, in net terms. and i say this not because we are always compared with the us but we have created in net terms around 2 million more jobs than in the united states over this period of 9 years. so again, as far as the euro is concerned, it has experienced a period precisely of price stability with very high level of job creation and we of course are happy about it. is there no risk for the labour market in the eurozone from this recent turbulence? again, the evolution of the real economy depends on the fallout of the present turbulences with their unusually high uncertainty. but we are sure of one thing : we are there as an institution that is responsible for price stability in the medium term. if we are credible, then we introduce in a period of turbulence an element of confidence, an element of stability, of trust, which is in itself contributing to alleviating the pressure that might come out of these turbulences and to be better off in terms of growth and job creation. let me just follow up on this question on policies of the ecb. what about the opinions from the markets that it is very much the time for the ecb to cut rates because almost all of the indicators are getting weaker and weaker. how do you respond to the voices that the ecb should follow for example the federal reserve or the bank of england to help support the economy? because, as you say, it is very much interdepen