the planned courses and seminars, most of which will take place in moscow at the cbr premises. study visits of cbr experts to eu countries will also be organised. a number of representatives of the participating ncbs are present in moscow today to mark their institutions'strong commitment to the project. the second point i would like to mention pertains to the importance we as central bankers attach to banking supervision. as stressed by ambassador wright, the involvement of the eurosystem in the tacis project stems from the long - standing experience many ncbs have in the field of banking supervision. it is this vast experience that we wish to share with our russian counterparts. sound practices and effective supervision provide a key basis for financial stability and an important platform for the conduct of monetary policy. we have noted with great interest the significant progress made in russia over the past few years in reforming banking supervision. with this project, the eurosystem hopes to contribute to further strengthening the cbr's banking supervision function as a key measure to foster a more stable financial environment. let me conclude on the hope that the eurosystem's involvement in the tacis project will act as a catalyst for deepening the working relations between our institutions further.

some of those effects have come into sharper focus in recent months. sovereign repo markets have shown signs of reduced liquidity, for example. and there are also signs of reduced market - making activity in sovereign and corporate bond markets. none of these developments should make us rush to amend capital standards that have been put in place to protect the real economy. after all, the levels of dealer bis central bankers ’ speeches activity and of market liquidity in the run - up to the crisis were ephemeral. they did not serve the real economy. it is important that other parts of the financial system, such as asset managers, adapt to the new environment and manage liquidity positions prudently. but these developments should, and they are, prompting us to assess whether targeted amendments to the design of regulations could benefit the real economy, without exposing it to more risk. the design of new requirements was macroprudential. so must be their implementation. the system has come a long way on the march to more capital and greater resilience. the benefits of that are being seen today. lending to real economies is growing again. resilience is more insulated from questions about returns. with resolution regimes well advanced and game - changing bail - in principles established, the upward march to higher capital levels can soon reach the new baseline. a baseline that, on what we know today, protects the real economy without unnecessary risk of holding it back. and with the flexibility to adapt and continually align resilience with threats, we have a compelling answer to the question of how to marry prudence with macroeconomic sense. so that you can protect and serve the real economy in good times and bad. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches chart 1 major uk bank price to book ratios and wholesale funding spreads percentage points ratio price to book ratio ( rhs ) senior unsecured bond spread ( lhs ) ( a ) 2. 5 2. 0 1. 5 1. 0 0. 5 0. 0 sources : bloomberg, thomson reuters datastream and bank calculations. ( a ) constant - maturity unweighted average of secondary market spreads to mid - swaps for the major uk lenders ’ five - year euro senior unsecured bonds or a suitable proxy when unavailable. bis central bankers ’ speeches chart 2 major uk banks ’ approximated cet1 capital ratio per cent interquartile range weighted average sources : pra regulatory returns and bank calculations. ( a ) major uk banks